By Dan Ambrose: #2 WBO Liam Williams (16-1-1, 11 KOs) weighed in at 153 ½ pounds for his WBO junior middleweight title eliminator against #4 WBO Liam “Beefy” Smith (25-1-1, 14 KOs) this Saturday night at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle.
(Photo credit: Action Images/Craig Brough)
Smith, 29, weighed in at the junior middleweight limit at 154 pounds. The Smith vs. Williams 2 rematch will be televised by BoxNation in the UK. The fight isn’t nearly big enough for it to be televised in the U.S.
In the previous Smith-Williams fight last April, Williams suffered a cut eyelid from a head-butt. Rather than let the fight continue, Williams’ corner opted to have the fight halted in the 9th round. At the time, Williams was ahead slightly on the scorecards. Smith was coming on though, as Williams looked like he’d exhausted himself from the pace of the fight.
Williams was definitely the stronger guy earlier in the fight. He didn’t have the conditioning to keep the pace up for the full 12 rounds; otherwise Smith would have been in deep trouble in the fight. The scores at the time of the stoppage had Williams ahead 86-85, 86-85 and 86-85.
“This will be better fight than last time because we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” said Williams. “I’m a lot more determined and got a lot more to prove. I learned a hell of a lot from the last fight.”
Smith, 29, lost his WBO 154 lb. title last year in getting stopped in the 9th round by Saul Canelo Alvarez on September 17th at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Smith was knocked down 3 times by Canelo in the fight. Smith did give Canelo some problems in the first 5 rounds before he started to have stamina issues. Smith wanted to set a fast pace to tire Canelo out, and it was working well until he started tiring himself. Once Smith gassed out, Canelo had his way with him in repeatedly knocking him to the canvas.
The winner of the Smith vs. Williams rematch will be in the position to fight for the title once WBO junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto vacates the belt after he retires after his fight against Sadam Ali on December 2. Cotto supposedly will be retiring from boxing, although there are a lot of fans who believe he’ll continue his career if a big money rematch with Saul Canelo Alvarez is offered to him by Golden Boy. Cotto wants a rematch against Canelo, and Golden Boy Promotions is in the position to give him what he’s asking for.
“I made a mistake last time. I’ve got people doubting me and writing me off and this has got my full attention,” said Smith.
It looked more like Smith was facing a younger, bigger and stronger fighter in Liam Williams. It didn’t look like Smith was losing because of him being flat. He didn’t have the power or the size to beat Williams before he gassed out and suffered a cut. Smith is a good fighter, but he’s clearly limited in the talent department. You can’t throw Liam Smith in the ring with Jermell Charlo or Erislandy Lara and expect him to win or even be competitive. Liam Williams just took advantage of a flawed fighter in Smith to have his way until the fight was stopped on a cut.
Other weights on Saturday’s Smith vs. Williams 2 card:
Josh Leather 138.5 vs. Glenn Foot 139.25
Thomas Patrick Ward 121.25 vs. Sean Davis 121
Nathan Gorman 252 vs. Mohamed Soltby 220