Undefeated super middleweight contender Callum Smith (19-0, 14 KOs) used very little finesse in blasting out an over-matched and much lighter looking EBU super middleweight champion Hadillah Mohoumadi (20-4-1, 15 KOs) in the 1st round in their contest on Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.
Smith used his superior size and power to unload on the smaller, weaker and less talented Mohoumadi until the referee pulled the plug in the fight in stopping it with Mohoumadi against the ropes. He was still upright at the time, but he would have clearly been knocked down if not for the referee halting it when he did. The victory for Smith makes him the WBC mandatory challenger to WBC champion Badou Jack.
In Smith’s last two fights, he’s scored 1st round knockouts. He might have to change his fighting style if he wants to find success against Badou Jack, because he has good punching power and a great chin. If Smith chooses to just blast away at Badou, he might find out the hard way that he’s met his match. That’s why it would have been better if Smith’s promoter Eddie Hearn had matched him against tougher opponents to get him ready for the Badou fight.
In the co-feature bout, super middleweight Rocky Fielding (22-1, 12 KOs) won a controversial 12 round split decision over Christopher Rebasse (24-5-3, 6 KOs). Fielding was knocked down in the 2nd round, and he was pounded in many of the rounds. The judging seemed to be lacking to the extreme in the case of two of the judges, who scored it 114-113 and 114-113 for Fielding.
The judge that appeared to be seeing the correct fight scored it 115-113 for Rebrasse. The victory for Fielding shows how hard it can be for visiting fighters to get a victory some times against a home fighter. You sometimes have to do more than just dominate your opponent. Sometimes you need to knock them out, which it appears Rebrasse needed in order to get the win. I scored the fight for Rebrasse. I couldn’t see how Fielding deserved the victory because he was getting worked over in almost every round.
In another controversial decision on the card, undefeated British lightweight Scott Cardle (19-0-1, 6 KOs) fought to a 12 round draw against challenger Sean Dodd (10-2, 2 KOs). The final judges’ scores were 114-113, 114-113 and 116-114 for Cardle. Dodd appeared to do more than enough to deserve the win.