Stephen Smith

Jason Sosa vs. Stephen Smith – Results

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBA World super featherweight champion Jason Sosa (20-1-4, 15 KOs) defeated a game but limited former world title challenger Stephen Smith (24-3, 14 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Salle des Étoiles, in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The judges scored the fight 116-111, 117-110 and 116-112 for Sosa. Boxing News 24 scored the fight 10 rounds to 2 in favor or Sosa.

Smith was knocked down by a left hook to the head by Sosa in the 2nd round. It looked like Sosa was stepping on Smith’s lead foot when he scored the knockdown. Never the less, Smith went down hard.

Smith, 31, suffered a cut over his right eye late in round three after Sosa unloaded on him with a flurry of shots. The cut would worsen as the fight wore on. It wasn’t the reason why Smith lost the fight to Sosa though. Smith was always going to lose this fight, because he was facing a more talented fighter.

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Jason Sosa vs. Stephen Smith: Don’t blink on Saturday

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By Scott Gilfoid: Stephen Smith (24-2, 14 Kos) is getting a crack at WBA World super featherweight champion Jason Sosa (19-1-4, 15 KOs) this Saturday night in Monte Carlo. This could be the end for the 31-year-old Smith as a viable contender if he gets smashed by the hard hitting Sosa.

It’s just a very, very bad match-up for Smith, as he’s facing one of the most relentless punchers in the 130lb division on Saturday night, and it does not look good for him. If you saw how the light hitting Lee Selby was able to trounce Smith in 2011 in stopping him in the 11th round, you know that Smith is going to be really up against it when he gets inside the ring with Sosa. Let’s be honest here.

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Luis Ortiz vs. Malik Scott – Official weights

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By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten highly rated #1 WBA heavyweight contender Luis “King Kong” Ortiz weighed in at 239.5 pounds during Friday’s weigh-in for his fight against the serviceable Malik Scott for Saturday’s fight on HBO World Boxing in Monte Carlo.

Malik (38-2-1, 13 KOs) weighed in at a heavy looking 246.4lbs. What was interesting about the two straightaway was that the 6’4” Malik appeared to be at least one inch taller than Ortiz, and clearly the heavier looking of the two. This suggests that the listed 6’4” height that Ortiz has isn’t legit. He looks no more than 6’3”. That’s not an issue for this fight, of course, because Malik is obviously not in the same class as Ortiz in terms of talent, boxing skills, power and experience, but it might be a problem in the future for the Cuban when he starts facing the giants in the heavyweight division.

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Jason Sosa vs. Stephen Smith this Saturday

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBA World super featherweight champion Jason Sosa (19-1-4, 15 KOs) will be looking to score a knockout this Saturday night when he faces #11 IBF fringe contender Stephen Smith (24-2, 14 KOs) at the Salle des Etoilles, in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Sosa, 28, wants to get an impressive knockout over the 31-year-old Smith. Sosa has got the perfect opponent for him to get a highlight reel KO on Saturday night in my view, because Smith likes to slug it out, even when it’s not in his best interest to do so.

If Smith’s trainer doesn’t have him on his bike this Saturday night, we could see him get royally smashed in two or three rounds. Sosa is a wrecking machine right now, and there isn’t anyone that has been able to stand up to him and beat him at his own game in the last five years of his boxing career.

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Stephen Smith destroys Daniel Eduardo Brizuela

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smith85By Scott Gilfoid: #12 IBF, #15 WBC Stephen Smith (24-2, 14 KOs) destroyed an over-matched 2nd tier fighter in stopping him in the 5th round on Sunday night to win the vacant WBC Silver super featherweight title at the Goodison Park Stadium in Liverpool, England. The fight was stopped at 2:59 of the 5th round by referee Ian John Lewis.

Smith knocked Brizuela, 30, down twice with body shots in the 5th. The referee then halted the fight after the second knockdown. Smith got away with hitting Brizuela while he was down after the first knockdown with the referee disqualifying him or taking points off. I guess the referee didn’t see the punch, which seemed pretty blatant.

The size difference between Smith and Brizuela looked pretty significant to me. As soon as the two super featherweights stepped foot inside the ring, I knew which one would win just by looking at them. Smith looked to be at least 10 pounds heavier than Brizuela and he was able to use his superior size to walk through his shots and punish him.

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Stephen Smith: I want another world title shot ASAP!

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Image: Stephen Smith: I want another world title shot ASAP!

By Scott Gilfoid: Just one month after a disappointing 12 round unanimous decision to IBF super featherweight champion Jose Pedraza on April 16, #12 IBF Stephen Smith (23-2, 13 KOs) will be in action this Sunday night against 2nd tier fighter Daniel Brizuela (28-5-2, 8 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round fight on the undercard of the Tony Bellew vs. Ilunga Makabu fight card at Goodison Park in Liverpool, UK.

Smith, 30, says he wants another world title shot as soon as possible. However, if Smith is going to be fighting for another world title soon, I would hope that he would actually earn it by fighting a better class of opponent than the 30-year-old Brizuela, who is coming off a loss to Mauricio Javier Munoz in his last fight in June of 2015.

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Ilunga Makabu: For sure I’m knocking Tony Bellew out

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By Scott Gilfoid: Knockout specialist Ilunga Makabu (19-1, 18 KOs) says there is no doubt in his mind that he’s going to be knocking out home fighter Tony Bellew (26-2-1, 16 KOs) on Sunday night when the two of them fight for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title at Goodison Park Stadium in Liverpool, UK.

Makabu, 29, has been knocking out everybody he’s faced pretty much since he first turned pro in 2008. The boxing world really took notice of the talented Makabu in his last fight against the defensive wizard Thabiso Mchunu last year in May 2015. The fight was basically even going into the 11th round when Makabu knocked Mchunu out in the round with a pulverizing left upper cut to the head.

Mchunu is a guy that some fans compare to Floyd Mayweather Jr. due to his craftiness in the ring. He’s very hard to hit cleanly, and perhaps that’s why Makabu couldn’t take him out until the 11th.

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Callum and Stephen Smith added to Bellew-Makabu card

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smith4444By Scott Gilfoid: The recently beaten #12 IBF super featherweight world title challenger Stephen Smith (23-2, 13 KOs) and his brother unbeaten #1 WBC super middleweight contender Callum Smith (19-0, 14 KOs) have both been added to the May 29 card headlined by #1 WBC cruiserweight contender Ilunga Makabu (19-1, 18 KOs) in his fight against #6 WBC Tony Bellew (26-2-1, 16 KOs) in their clash for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title at Goodison Park Arena in Liverpool, UK.

The addition of Callum Smith and Stephen Smith seems to be a move by their promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport to try and attract interest in the card. The main event between Bellew and Makabu could wind up as a huge buzz-kill for the British boxing fans because Bellew figures to lose that fight in spectacular fashion.

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Stephen Smith comes up empty against Jose Pedraza

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1-LR_FIGHT NIGHT-PEDRAZA VS SMITH-04162016-2054By Scott Gilfoid: After toiling away at his craft for the past eight years, #1 IBF Stephen Smith (23-2, 13 KOs) finally got a world title shot last Saturday night against unbeaten IBF super featherweight champion Jose Pedraza (22-0, 12 KOs) but it wasn’t to be for the 30-year-old Smith, as he was knocked down and beaten by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Foxwoods Resort, in Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA.

There were some of Smith’s fans who were hoping that he would be the UK’s 13th world champ, but it failed to happen. Smith couldn’t handle the talented 26-year-old Pedraza’s hard jab in the fight.

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Jose Pedraza defeats Stephen Smith

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By Patrick McHugh: IBF World super featherweight champion Jose Pedraza (22-0, 12 KOs) used his powerful jab to pound out a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night against #1 IBF Stephen Smith (23-2, 13 KOs) at the Foxwoods Resort, in Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA.

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