Abraham outpoints Smith to retain WBO title
28/09/2014 07:45
WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (41-4, 28 KOs) defeated British challenger Paul Smith (35-4, 20 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
The Armenian-born German won by scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 119-109.
Abraham was in command for the most part until the 6th and 7th rounds in which Smith fought well and got the better of Abraham with his body punching and high work rate.
Abraham came back and dominated the 8th and 9th rounds in landing some heavy right hands.
In the 10th, Smith showed new energy in nailing Abraham repeatedly with right hands and left hooks to the body.
Abraham came on strong in the 11th and 12th rounds, punishing right blows had the Liverpudlian against the ropes in the final round.
It was Abraham's second defence of the title he won back from Robert Stieglitz by split decision in March.
On the undercard, Britain's Matthew Macklin (30-5, 20 KOs) defeated Jose Yebes (12-5-1, 5 KOs) of Spain, by majority decision in a 8 round middleweight contest.
Macklin showed some ring rust early, but took over as the bout progressed, winning by scores of 77-75, 77-75 and 76-76.