(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports) By Scott Gilfoid: Despite having been soundly beaten in his last three fights by Arthur Abraham and Andre Ward, former two time world title challenger Paul Smith (35-6, 20 KOs) stubbornly refuses to hang up the gloves yet and call it a day with his career.
Smith, 32, doesn’t want to retire and he doesn’t feel that he’s a shot fighter. Smith wasn’t competitive at all against Ward last June in losing by a 9th round knockout at the Oracle Arena in beautiful Oakland, California. But what’s more worrisome than how easily Smith was beaten and reduced to a bleeding pile punching bag was how heavy he struggled in trying to make the weight for the fight.
Smith weighed in at 176 pounds, and he was even bigger by the time he stepped inside the ring. He didn’t look well-trained, as he appeared to be carrying around excess blubber on his frame.
If Smith is struggling to make 168, then what kind of future is he going to have? I don’t think Smith can go up to light heavyweight because those guys are huge and they all punch with major power. I don’t see Smith lasting more than a handful of rounds against someone like Artur Beterbiev or Andrzej Fonfara.
“I’m not shot, I’ve not been hurt,” said Smith via skysports.com. “I don’t want to retire. If you told me I was never going to fight again, I would be gutted – and the fact that I feel that way shows I want to carry on.”
I suppose Smith can always continue fighting if he’s clear on his objectives. I mean, if he thinks he’s going to get another world title shot like he was given by Arthur Abraham twice, then I think he’s kidding himself.
I don’t think Smith rated a world title shot against Abraham in the first place in getting picked out in one of Abraham’s voluntary defenses. But I don’t see Abraham throwing any more bones Smith’s way in giving him yet another world title shot, and I definitely don’t see the other champions Badou Jack, Ward, or James DeGale wasting their time with Smith. How could they?
Smith isn’t even ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies at 168 right now. Losing three straight fights will do that to you. When you lose that many fights in a short amount of time, then sanctioning bodies drop you from the top 15.
“I wouldn’t mind going back out to America to fight again,” Smith said. “The door to Germany is always open for me and I enjoyed fighting over there and there is always big fights here in Britain.”
Yeah, Smith can always been an opponent for one of the young lions in Germany or in the United States. I see him being useful for that kind of thing. I’m not sure if that’s what Smith has in mind when he speaks of wanting to fight in those countries. If the Germans contact Smith to have him fight one of their top super middleweights, then I could see him being fed to Vincent Feigenbutz.
Likewise, in the U.S, I wouldn’t be surprised if Top Rank tried to get Smith to fight their unbeaten super middleweight Jesse Hart. But the money for those fights would likely be nothing like the money Smith got for fighting Ward and Arthur Abraham. I don’t know if it would be worth it. If Smith is cool with getting the smaller paydays now, then by all means he should continue fighting.
“I’ve had a chat with Eddie Hearn and there’s a few fights out there and there’s a few routes out there as well,” Smith said.
Comments are closed.