Smith scores second round KO to retain WBO belt
WBO light middleweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) halted overmatched challenger Predrag Radosevic (30-2, 11 KOs) in the second round on Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
Smith landed hard shots to head and body in the opener and he backed his opponent into the corner in the second round before dropping Radosevic with a left hook to the body. The fight was stopped at 1:34 of the round as the Montenegrin failed to beat the count.
It was the Liverpool fighter's eighth straight knockout victory.
Now, Smith looks set to fight the biggest names in the division. He is a possible opponent for Canelo Alvarez's next fight, expected to be in Las Vegas in September. And Miguel Cotto is the number one mandatory for Smiths' WBO title.
"I want the names everyone keeps mentioning," said Smith. "I’d fight any one of them tomorrow. I pray to God one of those fights can be made because I believe that’ll be the making of me."
His promoter Frank Warren said: "We want Canelo and we think Liam Smith is capable of beating him. He’s capable of beating Cotto and Canelo, that’s the next level fight we want."
Also on the card, British contender Thomas Stalker (11-1-3, 2 KOs) outpointed Portugal's Antonio Joao Bento (30-16-2, 18 KOs) over 10 rounds to win the vacant WBO European lightweight title.
South African Zolani Tete (24-3, 20 KOs) scored a seventh round stoppage over Mexican Victor Ruiz (21-6, 15 KOs) to retain his IBF International bantamweight title.
local fighter Ryan Farrag (15-2, 4 KOs) lost his European bantamweight title after being stopped by Frenchman Karim Guerfi (24-3, 7 KOs) in the third round.