Paul Smith vs Arthur Abraham

[Fatsam]

Arthur abraham isn't losing his title to paul smith, goodluck to him though, hope he proves me wrong.

[Yes We Can]

If Smith were Polish he'd be just another pretty looking record for a belt holder to pick off.

This is up there with the Cleverly levels of title defence.

[skanksta]

terrapin vs armadillo, basically.

[Maxsplit]

Watching the pre fight coverage on Sky with a Groves as a pundit.

Is it just me or does he sound a little punch drunk??

I thought he'd had a few sharpeners! Maybe he has tbf!

[mrbishi]

How are they going to pad this show out until 10pm. Most of the undercard is finished.

[gazza8]

AA WIDE DECISION

[deadpan]

Anyone got a stream?

Massive thanks in advance.

[seanilius]

Abraham just too strong I fear. Will be elated if Smith pulls it off.

[Ally-M1]

That was a disgusting decision.

Boxing shows itself to be putrid, yet again.

[Freedom]

Disgraceful scoring, those judges should be fed to wild animals

[ILikeBeer]

German scoring, best in the world.

[northern]

Its a difficult fight for Smith no matter how you look at it.

does he have the ability - I think he does because at British, Commonwealth and European level he will beat most top contenders for the title, World level is the only place for him to be properly tested.

in Germany- he has to win convincingly in every round or he won't win on points and other wise he will have to stop Abraham early.

can he ? - keeping the work rate high straight from the opening bell would put him in good standing for the fight and he needs to test Abraham and try for a stoppage. from what I've seen Abraham hasn't looked the same recently. It could have been an off fight but if his toughness and punch resistance is going, smith has to try put him away.

Smith is not European class and has no history of beating top contenders for that title. In his long career his best wins are over Dobson, Quigley and ... Renda?

Paul Smith is a fraud whose mouth and ticket selling ability keeps him in the spotlight.

yeah he's a fraud... and he should be WBO champion right now.

what have we learned:
1, don't underestimate him on a big stage
2, Don't accept a fight in Germany - brilliant country. fair results... not so much right now

[crusader]

No, he shouldn't be the WBO champion.

Hometown judging occurs everywhere and I'm sure someone like Daniel Geale was happy that he decided to challeng for titles in Germany. Same goes for Sam Soliman.

[jameswilson]

Disgraceful scoring, those judges should be fed to wild animals

2 of the judges were fine. It's the 11-1 score that was outrageous.

[northern]

No, he shouldn't be the WBO champion.

Hometown judging occurs everywhere and I'm sure someone like Daniel Geale was happy that he decided to challeng for titles in Germany. Same goes for Sam Soliman.

hometown judging is one thing, but getting robbed is another entirely, watching the fight I believe Smith did enough to win, if not more than enough.

and speaking of Daniel Geale, you mean his fights against Strum and Sylvester and both were split decisions and I agree with you he fought and won in Germany and both were hard fought wins but both were nearly a dodgy result and im glad he got the win he deserved in both of those fights.

id just like to see the fighter who deserves to win actually win instead of the judges causing this controversy afterwards

[crusader]

It seems like you're among the minority in having Smith winning, at least on boxing forums and among the media*. I thought Abraham won and I don't know why I should think my opinion and the opinion of the others who had AA ahead isn't strongly supported.

Sturm-Geale was quite close in my view and I can understand the split cards. Geale-SS was competitive and although one card was poor the right man still won, while the first Sturm-Soliman bout was within the range in which someone looking to score it for the hometown boxer could justify their score. I also thought, as did many here, that Sturm did enough to beat Murray but he only received a draw, while Ola Afolabi dubiously earned a draw on a card in his third bout with Marco Huck when the latter, who could've easily been a justifiable winner of their very close rematch that ended in a draw, clearly deserved to win . Macklin should've gotten the decision against Sturm in my opinion, but I don't think that was a particularly bad case in the annals of poor judging, as comparable hometown verdicts occur nearly everywhere house-boxers fight visitors. On a lower level, Argentine Guido Pinto won a decision is a competitive fight over Sauerland-promoted prospect Jack Culcay and American Melissa McMorrow had the same result against German favorite Susie Kentikian.

Obviously bad scoring happens in Germany and the house-fighter usually benefits from it, a universal aspect of poor judging, but visiting fighters also regularly get a fair shake and win when they deserve to.

*
http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f ... 2&start=25
http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/arthur- ... ing-media/

[avidlemon]

there's some really bitter people out there.

The cards were a disgrace. a 1 or 2 round swing either way and there would be no arguments from me (i scored it one round to Smith). 119-109 was horrific scoring.

Don't normally agree with or listen to Jim Watt, but he said you don't fully know if you can perform on the world stage until you actually do it.

Obvious comment, but true.

Smith did himself proud, and is at the very least deserving of a re-match.

[Lenny]

Its a difficult fight for Smith no matter how you look at it.

does he have the ability - I think he does because at British, Commonwealth and European level he will beat most top contenders for the title, World level is the only place for him to be properly tested.

in Germany- he has to win convincingly in every round or he won't win on points and other wise he will have to stop Abraham early.

can he ? - keeping the work rate high straight from the opening bell would put him in good standing for the fight and he needs to test Abraham and try for a stoppage. from what I've seen Abraham hasn't looked the same recently. It could have been an off fight but if his toughness and punch resistance is going, smith has to try put him away.

Smith is not European class and has no history of beating top contenders for that title. In his long career his best wins are over Dobson, Quigley and ... Renda?

Paul Smith is a fraud whose mouth and ticket selling ability keeps him in the spotlight.

yeah he's a fraud... and he should be WBO champion right now.

what have we learned:
1, don't underestimate him on a big stage
2, Don't accept a fight in Germany - brilliant country. fair results... not so much right now

He performed well, lost by 3 or 4 points but did himself proud.

Doesn't change the previous years of his career, or the fact he no way deserved a shot in the first place. You so don't underestimate Smith on the big stage, we've have hardly had the chance and the only mildly comparable stages saw him stopped. Although fair play on a career best performance