By Scott Gilfoid: Paul “Smigga” Smith (38-6, 22 KOs) fights this Saturday night against WBA World super middleweight champion Tyron Zeuge (20-0-1, 11 KOs) at the Rittal Arena in Wetzlar, Hessen, Germany. Smith will be entering the last chance salloon on Saturday night. If he loses to Zeuge, then I see it being pretty much over for Smith. Zeuge, 25, is the second of the 2 world champions the World Boxing Association has at 168. In addition to Zeuge, who holds the WBA World super middleweight crown, the WBA also has the WBA Super World super middleweight title, which is held by George Groves.
Thank of it as 2 Super Bowl champions at the same time. It makes no sense, but you can argue that it brings in more money for a sanctioning body to have more than one champion in the same weight class. It’s a toss-up which of the 2 champions at super middleweight is the better one – Groves or Zeuge. I guess it doesn’t matter, because neither of them is viewed as the best fighter in the division by the boxing public. The best in the super middleweight division is between Callum Smith, Anthony Dirrell, James DeGale and Gilberto Ramirez.
Smith is getting another title shot after having lost 2 times in failed attempts to rip the WBO super middleweight title from Arthur Abraham in 2014 and 2015. Both times, Smith lost 12 round unanimous decisions. Smith was given a rematch with Abraham, which many boxing fans felt he didn’t deserve. Smith bellyached after his first loss to Abraham in September 2014, claiming that he deserved the victory. Smith didn’t in my eyes. I had Abraham winning 11 rounds to 1, and I felt I was being EXTREMELY kind to Smith in giving him one round. Smith was too weak with his shots to win more than one round. Abraham was winning rounds the way Saul Canelo Alvarez won rounds in his fight against Erislandy Lara. Canelo was outworked in that fight, but he still won because he landed the harder shots. It was the same thing with Abraham in his first fight with Smith. Abraham got outworked, but he landed the more telling blows. The German boxing fans didn’t create a fuss after the scores were announced. As far as I can tell, the only one that was complaining was Smith, which isn’t surprising. Losing fighters often yap about their losses, and Smith was no exception.
“If I had won the first fight with Abraham, I would have probably retired by now, but instead I’m going back to Germany for another shot and this time, I’ll be taking the title home,” said Smith to skysports.com.
Oh boy, Smith playing the ‘if game’ in talking about the big fish that got away. It’s so sad to see Smith living in the past, bellyaching about the fight that he didn’t win against Abraham. Smith needs to get over it already. He lost the fight to Abraham, and he then lost the second fight as well to the German fighter. The rest is history.
Instead of Smith living in the past and talking about what might have been, he should be thanking his lucky stars that he’s getting a world title shot in the first place. That goes for Smith’s title shot against Abraham as well, because it’s not as if Smith had to beat anyone talented to get his title shots. The opposition that Smith fought to get a title fight against Abraham was absolutely woeful. Smith beat these guys to get a title fight against Abraham: David Sarabia, Jamie Ambler, Tony Dodson and Tommy Tolan. None of those guys were contenders. Smith then beat these guys to get ranked #5 by the World Boxing Association for his title shot against Zeuge: Daniel Regi, Bartlomiecj Grafka and Bronislav Kubin. Those wins shouldn’t have put Smith at the No.5 spot in my opinion.
If I was the one doing the rankings with the WBA, I would move Smith downwards in the rankings rather than upwards after wins like that. The reason is I would see it as a sign that Smith isn’t looking to fight contenders. If Smith isn’t going to fight contenders, then why is he rated No.5 by the WBA, and why is he getting a title shot against Zeuge. It’s pretty disappointing. If Smith had beaten someone with a pulse like Callum Smith, Matt Karobov or David Benavidez, then I would understand him being rated No.5 and getting another title shot.
Smith hasn’t done that though. He’s getting a title shot off of wins over lesser opposition. I think it looks bad when one guy gets title shots after title shots without other arguably more deserving contenders getting a shot at a title. Why isn’t Benavidez getting title shots? Benavidez is an unbeaten talent with an 18-0 record with 17 knockouts, and he’s not getting title shots. We’re seeing Smith get 3 title fights, and Benavidez nothing. What’s wrong with that picture?
For me, boxing would be better off if the best fought the best, instead of the best fighting guys with inflated rankings and meager talent. I don’t consider Zeuge the best. I see him as a paper champion, who I feel should have lost his first fight against Giovanni De Carolia in July 2016. That fight was scored a 12 round draw. I had De Carolis winning 11 rounds to 1. It was one-sided due to Zeuge suffering an injured shoulder. I honestly do not know how the judges scored that fight a draw. I’ve seen the fight 3 times and each time, I could only give the German fighter Zeuge 1 round, and even that was me being kind to him. The fight took place in Germany.
“Zeuge is a decent fighter,” said Smith. “Technically he is very good. He’s strong, he throws good straight shots and stylistically he’s not too dissimilar to me. But WBA title holder Tyron Zeuge is yet to suffer a defeat in 21 fights,” said Smith.
Zeuge is a nice light hitting fighter, who reminds me a lot of a weaker version of Robert Stieglitz. Zeuge is a guy that tries to win rounds, and who has faced mostly weaker opposition. We haven’t seen Zeuge fight any of the better fighters in the super middleweight division like David Benavidez. I don’t consider De Carolis one of the best in the division, and I don’t rate Zeuge’s last opponent Isaac Ekpo as being a good fighter either. I’m just wondering how long Benavidez will need to wait before he gets his title shot against Zeuge. I see that fight ending badly for Zeuge. Benavidez hits too hard. I don’t see the judges having any say so in the final outcome of a fight between Benavidez and Zeuge. Benavidez is a champion waiting to be crowned.
Boxing is a funny game and now I’ve got another chance, I see no reason why I can’t win. The timing is right for me,” said Smith about his fight against Zeuge.
Well, I agree that boxing is a funny game. We’re seeing that with Smith getting another title shot off of 3 wins over journeyman level opposition. I don’t think Smith is going to win this fight against Zeuge for a couple of reasons. A. Smith is fighting in Zeuge’s home country of Germany. B. Smith’s poor stamina will prevent him from throwing enough punches to win the fight. If Smith could throw between 60-100 punches per round, he would win this fight going away. What we’re likely to see is Smith throwing between 20 to 30 punches per round, and that’s not going to be enough for him to get the ‘W’ on Saturday night.