Boxing’s gutter of bad decisions just got a bit more crowded.
It didn’t matter that super middleweight titleholder Callum Smith was bleeding from cuts, breathing heavily and getting battered on the ropes late in a 12-round fight. In the end, he still won a unanimous decision over mandatory challenger John Ryder at Echo Park Arena in Liverpool.
The scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112, which added up to yet another controversial result. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-112 in favor of Ryder.
It was supposed to be a showcase of sorts for the Liverpudlian Smith (27-0, 19 knockouts), who had not fought at home in nearly two years. It was anything but. The much shorter Ryder, a big underdog, consistently beat the 6-foot-3 Smith to the punch, outworking him on the inside, where he wailed away with convincing body shots. Later on, Ryder began mixing in hooks to the head. It was a breakout performance from Ryder (28-5, 16 KOs), who had previously lost to Billy Joe Saunders and Rocky Fielding and had mulled retirement at various times in his career.
“You know what, I got in there with the world No. 1 and I thought i just edged it,” a disappointed Ryder said afterward. “I didn’t do it tonight, but I thought I proved myself on the world stag. … I thought I forced the fight a lot. I thought he was just nicking rounds. I feel I did enough to win that.”
Smith looked sluggish. Though he was able to keep Ryder at bay with his jab early on, by the second half of the fight, Smith was drowning on the ropes as Ryder pressed harder and landed the cleaner shots. In Round 4, an inadvertent headbutt opened a cut above Smith’s right eye, but it hardly instilled a sense of urgency in Smith, who seemed to fight in one gear throughout the fight. Smith admitted as much in the post-fight interview.
“Early on I found it a little bit too easy,” Smith said. “I was in first gear for a little bit too long. Everything thing I was throwing was landing. When he was closing the distant I probably have dealt with it better. He’s very, very short and he got very close to me. He smothered me, and I allowed him to.”
By Round 5, a noticeable mark appeared below Smith’s right eye. Though Smith had a very good Round 6, in which he landed several straight rights, Ryder began to pull away in the second half. The left hook that Smith is known for sailed over Ryder’s head all fight long. Round 8 saw Ryder tag Smith with a blistering combination to end the round.
“I knew (Ryder) was a tough fighter,” Smith said. “I knew it was going to be that kind of fight. He’s good at getting really close. He stopped me from doing what I’m good at. It wasn’t the best performance. But I thought I won most of the early rounds. I thought I only lost one or only two out of the first eight. He worked hard — I give him his due — at the end. … I think I was due for a bad one. It was the first time I got cut in a fight. … I’ll be better fighter because of it.”
Smith seemed to hint that his poor performance was a result of not facing one of the elite fighters in the division.
“There was no fear tonight,” he said. “I didn’t believe John Ryder was good enough to beat me. The fights that bring the best out of me are the top four (in the division). That’s what I want now. I want the big names. … I just want a big name where that fear brings out the better in me.”
