Liverpool Results: 154-pound Champ Liam Smith Crumbles Radosevic with a Wicked Body Punch

Liverpool Results – They say that the show must go on and on this sad day in boxing there were roughly three dozen professional boxing events worldwide, a typically deep menu for a Saturday. One of the more noteworthy shows was held in the city of Liverpool where boxing is booming like never before. In the featured bout, hometown hero Liam Smith successfully defended his WBO World 154-pound title with an impressive second round blowout of Montenegro’s Predrag Radosevic.

Borrowing a leaf from such great body punchers as Irish Micky Ward, Liam Smith ended matters with a left hook that sent Radosevic to his knees, gulping for air. It was another impressive showing by Smith, whose three fighting brothers tailed him into the ring following a moving tribute and 10-bell salute to Muhammad Ali.

There’s been talk about a possible match between Liam Smith and Canelo Alvarez. The talk will only grow louder. And it seems certain that if the bout comes to fruition, the ever-improving Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) will make a much better showing than did his older brother Paul Smith who was badly outclassed when he came to North America to challenge Andre Ward.

The chief supporting bout, a 12-round super flyweight contest pitting England’s Paul Butler vs Thailand’s Petchbarngborn Kokietgym, was cancelled.

When Butler came in overweight, that meant that the title was on the line for only the Thai, a moot point after the BBBC stepped in and pulled the plug after Butler suffered double vision while attempting to make weight sitting in a sauna.

The cancellation bumped the bout between Ryan Farrag and Karim Guerfi into the semi-main. A 12-round contest sanctioned for the European bantamweight title was an unexpected slugfest with both fighters throwing haymakers as long as it lasted. Farrag, who had the crowd in his corner, had promised to knock Guerfi’s head clean off, but it was Guerfi, the Frenchman, who landed the decisive blow, a haymaker in the third round that landed on Farrag’s chin and so discombobulated him that the referee waved the fight off. Guefi moves to 24-3. Farrag declines to 15-2.

Zolani Tete, a former IBF 115-pound champion who relinquished his belt to compete as a bantamweight, advanced to 24-3 (20 KOs) with a seventh round stoppage of Mexico’s Victor Ruiz. Tete won every round prior to lowering the boom in round 7 with a vicious left hook. The Mexican beat the count but the ref waved the bout off. Tete, who hails from the Eastern Cape of South Africa, is becoming a fan favorite in Liverpool. This was his third bout in the English port city.

In a bloody 10-round affair, Thomas Stalker (11-1-3) won a vacant lightweight belt of little significance with a 10-round decision over Antonio Joao Bento, a 39-year old campaigner from Portugal.

There were several up-and-comers on the card who kept their records unblemished in matches against soft opponents. Super welterweight Liam Williams moved to 14-0-1 with a third round KO of Argentina’s Gustavo Sanchez. Slick but feather-fisted bantamweight Kevin Satchell moved to 16-0 with 6-round unanimous decision over Brett Fidoe. Stephen Lewis is now 11-0 after scoring an 8^th round TKO over Marek Laskowski.

Liverpool Results

Comment on this article