Smith just said on his twitter that he is moving back to 160. Whatever a lot of you guys on here think of him, you can't say that he isn't trying to get the best out of his career. Got to give him props for recognising where he will perform best at
Give him props for realising what every member of this forum thats not a deranged Smith hugger said he should do 2 years ago.
I really dont know how he ended up at SMW in the first place , at the time i assumed it was a tactical move looking at the level of competition @60 compared to 68 !!!! , this is a good move for Paul because really he is a MW !!! Edit ; wonder who he will fight first ??.. Edit 2 ; at Avid following Paul Smith on twitter (although not suprised) .......... :good
Rob, even I said ms was the division for him. Stop hugging MY nuts. Think barker later this year would be a class fight
Tbh honest I think he went smw because the opportunities up there were a bit more open than at middle weight. Now smigga has made his name at smw, should be able to push himself through fairly quickly at mw imo
Agree'd . i.e. easy fight for the British undoubtidly in his home town against a local rival , too good to turn down , at least it looks much better than fighting Macklin or Barker or it did at that time through Frank / Paul's eyes .......... Question is , what sort of opposition will he be matched with ??? , at the moment he's very popular in Liverpool but that will dwindle with another high profile defeat , i have him the underdog against Barker / Murray , so it will be interesting
I think he will want to be back in the mix asap. Quick warm up, then into a title of sorts in late spring/early summer. I made a point not ling ago that smith still held a shot very well at smw, but seemed to have lost a bit of power at smw. Only stopped 1 of 5 opponents at smw. Going back to middle means his fitness will improve, and he's fighting guys his own size, and that should tell in his power. His stoppage rate wasn't too bad at mw. In terms of whether he would be a favourite or not against certain opposition at mw, well you could be right about being an underdog in certain fights. But it would only be by a small margin. There are some good fights out there for him. Barker is one that could be made I'm sure, and fighting Murray would be a great yard stick of where he's at domestically/fringe euro level (I suppose fighting barker would give the same indication). I'm glad as a smith fan overall, as I feel when at mw, he had a lot more snap, and mobility
I think a fight for the British title with Murray would be ideal for Smith he could do well at MW there are some good top end matches for him if he is looking at Euro level