By Sean McDaniel: British super middleweight champion Paul Smith (29-1, 15 KO’s) had to fight hard to win an unimpressive 12 round unanimous decision on Friday night against Tony Dodson (24-6-1, 12 KO’s) at the Echo Arena, in Liverpool, England. The final judges’ scores were 117-112, 116-111 and 115-112, Smith, 27, was cut badly over his left eye after ramming heads with Dodson in the 1st round.

The cut was a nasty one and bled quite a bit. Smith looked uncomfortable through much of the fight, throwing shots, missing much of the time and getting hit by Dodson in return. Smith looked as if he was trying to get Dodson out of there fast, but didn’t have the power or the accuracy to complete the task. Smith was cut again in the 4th round, because of yet another head butt.

Smith fought well in the 5th, landing a nice right hand that appeared to hurt Dodson briefly, and making him clinch to stem the attack from Smith. Dodson proved to have good recuperative powers, though, as he attacked Smith hard in the 6th, paying Smith back by hurting him with a right hand. Following that round, Dodson started to wear down, and Smith took over the fight with his better power and stamina.

Dodson lost a point in the 10th for excessive clinching. He looked totally gassed out and was trying to get any kind of rest periods. In the 12th round, Dodson came on and took the fight to Smith, hitting him with some good shots to end the round. However, Smith did the better work over the course of the fight and ended up getting the decision. It was a decent performance by Smith, but nothing to shout about. I think Smith would have had major problems if he had been matched against a top level super middleweight.