By Barry Holbrook: Junior middleweight contender Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith (32-3-1, 19 KOs) kept himself in position to fight for a world title with a fourth round knockout win over second-tier fighter Hassan Mwakinyo (20-3, 14 KOs) on Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.
The 34-year-old ‘Beefy’ Smith, who is ranked #2 WBO, #3 WBC & #4 WBA at 154, dropped the 27-year-old Mwakinyo twice in the fourth round.
A round earlier, Hassan had hurt his ankle. It’s unclear if that factored into the final results of the fight or not.
Given that this was a mismatch on paper in favor of Smith, it’s likely that Hassan would have been stopped anyway. The bout was halted at 1:46 of the fourth.
For Liam Smith, this was his third consecutive win since losing to Magomed Kurbanov in 2021.
The former WBO 154-lb champion Smith lost his belt in 2016 in a ninth round knockout defeat at the hands of Canelo Alvarez.
Since then, Smith has tried to recapture a belt but was beaten by Jaime Munguia in 2018 in a failed attempt to recapture his old WBO 154 belt.
At this point, the best Smith can hope for is a nice payday that comes with a title shot against undisputed 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo, as he doesn’t match up with the talented champ.
However, even if Smith keeps winning in the foreseeable future, he’s not expected to get a title shot against Charlo for at least two years, possibly three.
That’s a long time for Smith to wait, which is why he may choose to move up to 160 to get a fast shot at a title against the newly crowned WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly.
That fighter is already being avoided by many in the 160-lb division, so it’s possible Liam can get a title shot against him if his promoter pulls some strings.
Unfortunately, that fight would be similar to the Charlo match-up for Smith, meaning that he would have little to no chance of beating the dangerous puncher Janibek. But on the bright side, at least Smith would get a nice payday and would be fighting for a title.
In undercard activity, female WBO junior welterweight champion Natasha Jonas (12-2-1, 8 KOs) defeated WBC champion Patricia Berghult (15-1, 3 KOs) by a wide 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were 99-91, 100-90, and 100-90.
Light heavyweight Dan Azeez (17-0, 11 KOs) defeated the always tough Shakan Pitters (17-2, 6 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision to capture the British strap. The judges’ scores were 117-112, 115-113, and 117-111.
Heavyweight prospect Frazer Clarke (3-0, 3 KOs) destroyed replacement opponent Pencho Tsvetkov (7-1, 5 KOs) by a quick first round knockout. Clarke dropped Tsvetkov twice in the round before the contest was halted.
Light welterweight Adam Azim (6-0, 5 KOs0 defeated Michael Cabral (5-5-1, KOs) by a first round knockout.
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