Date:   Saturday, June 4, 2016

WBO JR. MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE BOUT

Location:   Echo Arena, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom

Promoter:   Queensberry Promotions / Frank Warren

Supervisor:  Dennis Gilmartin

Referee:  Steve Gray

Judges:  Ingo Barrabas, Deon Dwarte, Dave Parris

Results:   The WBO Jr. Middleweight Champion Liam Smith retained the title by KO’d Predrag Radosevic in the second round.

TV:

Beefy took just a minute and a half of the second to successfully defend his light-middleweight title against Predrag Radosevic in front of his home crowd in Liverpool

Liam-Smith                                                                                   Over and out:  Smith defeated Radosevic inside two rounds

Liam Smith took a step closer to a dream fight against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez by successfully defending his WBO light-middleweight tonight in front of his home fans in Liverpool.

Smith impressed as he stopped challenger Predrag Radosevic in just two rounds to stretch his unbeaten record to 24 fights.

He put Radosevic down with a left hook to the body and the Montenegrin showed little enthusiasm to get up as he waited for referee Steve Gray to count him out.

It was not the way Smith would have wanted to win and questions will be asked about Radosevic, who showed little appetite for the fight.

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Smith will press on and promoter Frank Warren is in talks with Canelo’s camp about a possible fight against the Mexican sensation.

Warren was in negotiations with Golden Boy six months ago only for Canelo to opt to fight Amir Khan instead last month.

Smith, 27, is due a huge fight to give him the limelight he deserves and he is one of the least-heralded of Britain’s 13 world champions.

NOV16-Liam-Smith-1

After the crowd inside the Echo Arena paid tribute to Muhammad Ali, Smith did a number on Radosevic to become the first man after two-weight world champ Felix Sturm to stop the Montenegran.

Smith edged the first round, knocking Radosevic’s head back with a strong jab before clouting him with a stinging right.

His jab rocked Radosevic again in the second, pinning him in the corner and he opened up on the challenger.

Liam-Smith-1

He unloaded a flurry of shots before winding Radosevic with a left hook to the ribs.

Radosevic rested on his hunkers, but did not want to rise to his feet as Gray counted to 10 to end the contest one minute and 34 seconds into the second round.

Liam-Smith-2

He told his corner he felt like he had broken a rib, such was the venom of Smith’s punch.

Smith will not care and he has recorded the 13th stoppage of his 23 wins as he improves to 23-0-1.

But what is clear is that he needs a better class of opponent to show the world just how good he is.

www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxing/liam-smith-defends-world-title-8116756

tommy-langford

By Terence Dooley

Echo Arena, Liverpool – Tommy Langford (159¼lbs) and Lewis Taylor (159lbs) engaged in a bitty war of attrition for the vacant middleweight Commonwealth title most recently held by Billy Joe Saunders and Langford’s WBO Inter-Continental belt.

Neither man gained dominion over the other early on, so it became a tit for tat affair with Langford looking to land combinations and Taylor enjoying some single shot success as the stanzas sped by.

Langford’s career really picked up momentum in 2015; the Birmingham-based boxer beat Julio Cesar Avalos (W TKO 4), Cristian Fabian Rios (W 10) and Robert Swierzbinski (W TKO 5), winning and twice retaining the WBO Inter-Continental belt during that hat-trick of wins.

Tayor, though, was on a two-win streak since losing to Eamonn O’Kane in May of last year—a majority decision reverse over 12 for the IBF Inter-Continental title—so he came in buoyed by victories over Grant Cunningham and Jez Wilson (W TD 5 and TKO 5 respectively).

Despite picking up a cut over the left eye in the ninth, Langford marched forward through the slowly trickling blood to blast home a series of body shots.

Cutsman Kerry Kayes stemmed the flow between rounds, but Taylor was unable to consistently repeal the bludgeoning attacks of his determined co-challenger.  Still, he threaded home enough single shots to keep Langford honest as the fight entered the crucial championship rounds.

The bell went for the 11th round heralded Langford into new entirely territory—the win over Rios was the sole occasion that he has entered the 10th round of a fight.  Taylor has done 12 once; he pushed on early in the penultimate round only for Langford to gain a foothold going in the final minute.

Marcus McDonnell applauded both boxers as they went into the last round.  Neither man had enough pep to produce a late rally or knockdown, they held more often than in the earlier rounds as the seconds slipped away.

Scores of 118-110 (Terry O’Connor), 118-111 (Steve Gray) and 118-111 (Dave Parris) added the Commonwealth belt to Langford’s trophy cabinet.  Langford progresses to 16-0 (5); Taylor drops to 18-2-1 (3).

“I won it convincingly,” Langford said.  “I could have boxed better behind my jab, used my feet better or got out of the way, instead I was pulling out and getting caught.  Credit to Taylor, better than I expected and he can come again.”

“It was a good fight, he should learn a lot from it,” added Warren.  “He’ll watch it, see his mistakes and there’s a couple of things to work on.  Big Heart, great for the fans and he’ll learn from that and hopefully by the end of the year be fighting for a world title.”

The Inter-Continental belt has lifted Langford up the WBO’s ratings, he sits at four and Warren also promotes Billy Joe Saunders so it could be a viable option for all involved if Langford adds another few wins to his W column.

Earlier in the night, Warren revealed that he believes a showdown with consensus number one, but not the linear holder, Gennady Golovkin is a stadium fight so should be placed on the back burner until 2017.  However, he also revealed that Saunders himself is chomping at the bit for the chance to meet “GGG”.

In the meantime, though, Saunders faces WBO #11 Max Bursak at London’s Copper Box Arena on April 30 in the maiden defence of the belt he won by out-pointing Andy Lee in December.

www.boxingscene.com/tommy-langford-decisions-taylor-wins-commonwealth-belt–102325?print_friendly=1

 

 

 

Date: Saturday, December 19, 2015

WBO MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE BOUT

Location: Manchester Arena (formerly M.E.N. Arena), Machester, Lancashire, United Kingdom

Promoter:  Queensberry Promotions / Frank Warren

Supervisor:  Francisco Valcarcel, Esq.

Referee:  Steve Gray

Judges:  Phil Edwards (112-114);  Dave Parris (111-115);  Marcus McDonnell (113-113)

Results:  Billy Joe Saunders is the new WBO middleweight champion by a 12 round majority decision over Andy Lee.

TV:

Date:  Saturday – October 10, 2015

VACANT WBO JR. MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE BOUT

Location: Manchester Arena (formerly M.E.N. Arena), Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom

Promoter:  Queensberry Promotions / Frank Warren

Supervisor:  Istvan Kovacs

Referee:   Marcus McDonnell

Judges:  Steve Gray (56-58); Mark Nelson (57-57); Andre Van Grootenbruel (57-57)

Results:   Liam Smith has become the new WBO Jr. Middleweight champion after seeing off John Thompson with a seventh-round knockout.

TV: