Review - Matchroom: Smith vs Mohoumadi

Callum Smith did little to stop the hype train this Saturday as he disposed of supposedly durable European champion Adillah Mohoumadi in less than 2 minutes. The champion, from France, started brightly and offensively. This would prove to be his downfall. He backed Smith towards the corner throwing busily and looking to set a high tempo. Any Smith backers needn’t have worried however. A sharp counter left hook looked to stiffen Mohoumadi’s legs and from then on it was Smith dictating the fight in his hometown. Mohoumadi wasn’t out of it but the writing was on the wall. Despite throwing some more attempted combinations he couldn’t deter Smith. “Mundo” who looks huge at 168lbs was too fast and too powerful. Much was made of the fact Mohoumadi had gone twelve rounds with current IBF beltholder James Degale, but every clean shot landed by Smith did damage. The ref jumped in correctly to stop a vicious onslaught on the ropes. At only 25 years of age, Callum Smith has huge potential. We said in the build-up that this was a good test for Smith, and he passed with flying colours.

In doing he so he not only added the EBU title to his previously gained British and English versions, he also claimed the coveted mandatory WBC world title shot. Whether this happens sooner or later is yet to be decided. Current holder of the “green belt”, Swede Badou Jack is set to defend against Lucien Bute later this month. IBF champion Degale defends his title on the same bill against Rogelio Medina and a unification between the two has been heavily discussed between the camps. On Saturday Eddie Hearn claimed they would happily wait for the Degale – Jack winner (provided both defend successfully) yet he talked up the possibility of Smith facing Jack. The interesting subplot here is that both Smith and Degale are Matchroom fighters which should in theory make a Smith-Degale world title fight easy to make. Add in the fact that Hearn / Smith had regularly called out Degale conqueror George Groves and we could have a mouthwatering series of match ups in the Super-Middleweight division.

That is a debate for another time however, and the undercard of Saturday’s show deserves a detailed review. The return to the ring of Rocky Fielding played chief support. It was Rocky’s first taste of action since being demolished by Smith in the first round and all did not go to plan. When Frenchman Christophe Rebrassé was announced, my initial reaction was that this was far from a soft touch. Rebrassé is known on these shores for taking Groves and Smith the distance and giving them all they could handle. He pulled the same trick against Fielding, only with more offensive intent. And results. Rocky was, understandably, tentative following what happened in his last outing. The tough Frenchman took full advantage, coming forward with a high guard and applying pressure. His offensive approach paid dividends in the second round as he unloaded and dropped the Oliver Harrison trained scowser with a good right hand. Fortunately for Fielding, this onslaught came late in the round and he survived to the bell.

Fielding deserves a massive amount of respect and credit for riding out the storm and forcing his way back into the contest when he looked down and out. There is no doubt that Rebrassé put a lot into the first half of the fight, and that he faded somewhat as it progressed, however I can’t see how Fielding got the decision. Split or otherwise. One judge scored it 115-113 for Rebrassé, which I personally feel was fair and the other two gave the Matchroom man 114-113. It will be interesting to see where Fielding goes from here. He secured the WBC international title with this victory and prior to the Smith blowout, he was targeting world honours. However, as described earlier, that landscape is somewhat cloudy so it is difficult to see how he gets anywhere near the WBC title anytime soon.

Scott Cardle is still British Lightweight champion. However, like Fielding, he has his title by the skin of his teeth. A majority draw decision against home favourite Sean “Masher” Dodd was enough for him to hold onto the Lonsdale belt in his second defence. Scores of 114-114 (twice) and 116-114 in favour of the champion. That does not tell the tale in the eyes many though. According to the reaction, predominantly on social media, this was a robbery on the scale of Bradley-Pacquiao I or Chudinov – Sturm. I didn’t see it quite as clear cut as that. Having spoken to Cardle at the weigh in, it was clear he didn’t want to get drawn into Dodd’s fight. In the opening rounds this became even clearer. Cardle moved around the ring looking to create space and box on the back foot. While Dodd was undoubtedly the aggressor, neither man really landed anything of note.

As the bout progressed the action bubbled. There were a few exchanges that threatened a repeat of the first bout between them but realistically it never reached those heights. I think I may have been one of the few (admittedly I was viewing the action through two rows of “Masher” fans) that thought Cardle was slightly ahead as we reached the championship rounds. “Masher” did however continue to push the action and finished strongly. His reaction at the end of a strong final round mirrored that of the crowd. You can see why he thought he had done enough to get the British title at the second time of asking. It is worth noting that several knowledgeable boxing people around me in press row had scored the fight a draw before the scorecards were read out. I personally feel that the Fielding-Rebrassé match was clearer and the wrong man got the nod. Cardle has done himself no favours in claiming he is above the “small show” fighters but this could quite easily have gone either way. It was close contest with a lot of close rounds so a draw isn’t as unconceivable as some would have you believe.

The most action packed fight of the night didn’t even last 2 rounds! “Dazzling” Tom Doran’s rematch against “Cool Hand” Luke Keeler was as exciting as it was sudden. What had been anticipated as a close contest was exactly that, for about a round. Both men traded punches and knockdowns in the first. Keeler must have thought he had the vacant WBC International Middleweight title around his waist when he landed on Doran, sending his Prizefighter conqueror to the canvas. Doran, and his exceptional powers of recovery, had other ideas however. He gamely fought fire with fire and dropped Keeler hard towards the end of the round. Keeler made it to the bell but not much after. Both men started where they left off in round two but Doran threw the sharper shots, scoring knockdowns and then the stoppage. Not a bad opening bout for the Sky cameras to transmit live.

Before the televised action, those in attendance got to see several of Matchroom’s brightest prospects. Joe Gallagher trained Marcus Morrison looked as devastating as ever with a brutal first round TKO of Janos Vargas. As we mentioned in our preview piece, we’ve seen Morrison live several times and he has impressed on each occcasion. After the event he told us that he is still learning and is someway off challenging for titles, yet it will only be a matter of time if he continues to despatch his opponents so quickly.

Reece “The Bomber” Bellotti continued his push towards featherweight gold with a stoppage win over Julio Buitrado of Nicaragua. The action came to close after the gutsy Nicaraguan failed to come out for the seventh round. The young man from Watford looked sharp and won every round with his superior speed and boxing ability. Under the tutelage of Jim McDonnell he won’t struggle with the championship distance and is another one to watch.

The same can be said of Commonwealth games gold medallist Scott Fitzgerald. The man from Preston brought a lot of support on his relatively short journey to the Echo Arena. He started off well, planting his feet and landing some spiteful looking shots to head and body. Unfortunately for his opponent, Robert Studzinski, this set the tone until the ref saved him from further punishment. It was waved off in the second round. Fitzgerald has adapted well to the pro game and looks to have an aggressive, fan friendly style.

Liverpool’s Tom Farrell took on Mark McKray and won 59-56 on the referee’s scorecard. He was made to work all the way by the game McKray but fully deserved the nod. He hurt McKray on a couple of occasions and will take a lot from going the distance.

Another local fighter to win on points was debutant Ged Carroll. Buoyed on by vocal home support, Carroll won every round against tough journeyman Youssef Al Hamidi who never looked in danger, either of being stopped or causing the upset.

#Matchroom #Liverpool #Smith #WBC #Bellotti #Morrison #Gallagher #Sky #Echo