Live Results – Liverpool: Callum Smith decisions John Ryder

By Boxing News - 11/23/2019 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: WBA Super World super middleweight champion Callum Smith (27-0, 19 KOs) got the fight of his life by mandatory John Ryder (28-5, 16 KOs) in having to battle hard to win a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the M & S Arena in Liverpool, England.

A bloody and battered-looking Callum gassed out in the last three rounds, and took a lot of punishment by the much better conditioned ‘Gorilla’ Ryder. Callum basically held his way to survive in the 11th and 12th.

Ryder fought well enough to deserve a draw

The judges scored it 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112. Boxing News 24 had it 115-113 for the 29-year-old Smith. He won, but just barely. It Ryder appeared to win 3 of the first 6 rounds of the fight, and then he came on strong to win the 11th and 12th. The judges scores didnt reflect that, and it’s troubling. This was hometown fight for Callum in fighting in Liverpool, England, and that might explain why the scores were so wide.

You can argue that Ryder deserved a draw in the fight, as he won at least of the rounds between the 7th and 10th.

“I knew he was a tough fighter, I knew it was a tough fight,” said Smith after the fight. “It wasn’t the best performance from myself, but I was due a bad one. I’m a perfectionist and I always want to do the best as possible. Listen, I know how good I am, how good I can be.

“I want the best names in the division. The fear brings out the best performance in myself.”

All Results:

Callum Smith W PTS 12 John Ryder
(117-111, 116-112, 116-112)
Chris Billam-Smith W TKO 5 Craig Glover
Anthony Fowler W PTS 10 Harry Scarff
Sean Dodd W TD 4 Tom Farrell
Tom Aitchson W 4 Matija Petrinic
James Tennyson TKO 11 Craig Evans
Stephen Smith W PTS 6 Jonny Phillips
Marcos Molloy PTS 4 Jamie Quinn