By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten #3 WBO junior middleweight contender Liam Smith (20-0-1, 10 KOs) got some really bad news with his previously scheduled opponent #2 WBO Michel Soro being replaced by the talented #5 WBO John Thompson (17-1, 6 KOs) in their fight for the vacant WBO 154lb title on October 10th on the undercard of the Andy Lee vs. Billy Joe Saunders fight at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. The reason why this is bad news for the 27-year-old Smith is because the 6’1” Thompson is a bigger, faster, stronger and more talented fighter than himself.
I rate the 26-year-old Thompson as being a far better opponent than the guy that he replaced in Soro. The reason Soro couldn’t take the fight is because he reportedly had some issues with his handlers. Thompson recently won the Boxcino 154lb tournament last May in destroying a very, very good fighter in Brandon Adams via a 2nd round knockout. I rate Adams as a better fighter than Liam Smith. That just shows you how talented Thompson is. He hurt Adams with some speedy combinations in close and then dropped him badly with a right hand.
Surprisingly, Adams was allowed to continue fighting despite the fact that he was out on his feet. Thompson then finished him off with a short flurry of head shots, causing referee David Mendoza to halt the fight at 2:18 of the 2nd round.
Thompson said “I am ecstatic at the opportunity. I will look to take advantage of it and ready to win and become world champion. It won’t feel like fighting the road. I have family in Scotland, who will be at the fight. I’ve been there before and that was a pleasure trip, I am coming this time for business.”
Thompson’s only career loss was to the hard hitting Frank Galarza last year in January 2014 in a 2nd round knockout. It was a case of Thompson getting caught with the first right hand that Galarza threw at the start of the 2nd round. The shot took Thompson by surprise because he was expecting Galarza to start slowly at the start of the round, but instead Galarza loaded up on his first punch and had Thompson out on his feet.
Moments later, Galarza dropped Thompson was a devastating left hook to the head that put him down face first. The referee had no choice but to halt the fight because Thompson was too hurt to get up from the knockdown. I’m sure that Thompson would beat Galarza if the two of them were to face each other in a rematch because he would be absolutely ready for him the second time around. Thompson was totally dominating the 1st round of the fight, and it wasn’t even competitive. He obviously made a mistake of not being ready at the start of the 2nd round the way he should have been.
Liam Smith doesn’t have any big wins on his resume that compares to Thompson’s wins in the Boxcino tournament. All the guys that Smith has beaten are obscure guys with poor to mediocre records.
Comments are closed.