By Dean Bain: Last night on the Kell Brook pre-show Super Middleweight Callum Smith took part in his 9th professional fight against Ruben Acosta. This was Acosta’s 41st fight and at 35 now on his way down the rankings
For a 9th fight this was a tough fight for Smith, Acosta had been in with some decent fighters and with Smith smashing through his recent opponents this was suppose to be a tough fight. Smith started the fight slow and you could see he was respecting what Acosta was bringing to the table. He let Acosta come to him so he could work out what he had, Smith kept a high guard and was mainly using his jab in the first two rounds. This was done with great effect and Smith gave a very controlled performance in the first part of the fight
From round three Smith started to go more on the attack more as Acosta was not troubling the young fighter with anything he came forward with. Smith was catching Acosta with attacks that were accurate and powerful but at the same time remembering his defensive duties. He was hurting Acosta in rounds 3 and 4 but in round 5 Smiths power became too much and Acosta was knocked down twice with the 2nd bringing an end to the fight
This was a performance beyond his years and showed he can also fight an intelligent fight not just going in there and beating up fighters who are just there to boost his record
Just how good of an opponent was Acosta though, I know he is no world beater but just remember this was only Smiths 9th fight. So when I say good opponent I refer to Smith being in the early stages of his career
Acosta has a record of 27-9-5 but has fought some decent fighters during his career. Acosta’s first defeat came against Anothny Mundine, a former world champion who stopped Acosta in round 4, a round earlier than Smith but this was Mundine’s 29th fight. 20 more fights than Smith has had. He then lost to Karoly Balzsay who is a former challenger for the World title, this was Balzsay’s 16th fight and he took points to get the win
His next real test was against current WBO Super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz for the WBO title, Acosta was stopped in the 5th round by Stieglitz but Smith did this in his 9th fight when Stieglitz was in his 38th
Yes the fighters mentioned had fought Acosta when he was at a younger age but that does not take away how good Smith had performed against a tough south American fighter
Where does Smith go from here. Then British belt is now in Smiths sights but with his brother the current champion he is going to have to wait before fighting for the belt. Paul Smith defends his title on the 7th Dec and after an expected win will vacate the title to move on to fight for the European title
In the meantime I’d like to see him fight again by the end of the year before fighting for the British belt early next year. For me the ideal fight while waiting for a shot at the title would be against Tony Dodson, a former holder of the British title and been in with some good fighters. Callum’s brother Paul had stopped Dodson in the 6th round in Dodson’s previous fight and if Callum was to better that then it would through Callum to the top of the British pile of those boxers fighting at British level. I think he could beat Dodson in 4 or 5 rounds, Dodson’s career is on the way down and would be perfect time for Callum to fight him
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