Dunno about anyone else but it seemed to me that Hall just got totally frustrated and more less just gave up.
i think about 90% on here had Hall by KO. In reality Hall is just way to one dimensional, and whatever you say about Small he is skillfull, a decent and fast puncher. Basically anyone with half a brain would knock Hall out. Not taking anyhting away from Small, i think he would of beat Rhodes (in a boring boring fight). Did anyone notice in the post fight he said, I need a promoter thats going to take me on, maybe hes left frank warren.
when small actually boxes and gets the bit between his teeth he's very good. people hate on him and question his ability because of his clowning around, but that's just part of the guys persona. for sure he'd have made easier work of hall if he'd just got down to business straight away like he did in those later rounds, but then that's not small.
Turned over briefly to Cleverly-McIntosh and ended up watching it instead from the start of the 2nd onwards. Was Small any good on his way to the win or did Hall just fall apart? Sky haven't even shown a re-run yet.
I'm one of the few that picked Small for the stoppage. I thought Hall would make a better fist of things than he did though. He was the hometown fighter, seemed to have the ref backing him, and had the Sky commentators up his ass for the first six rounds, but he never made much of an impact on Small. Small showed that he was on a different level. Hall needed to put pressure on him constantly, but seemed to be content to stand on the outside and let Small have all the breathers and do all the clowning he wanted. When they did get into heated exchanges Small had his number with the quicker and more accurate shots. The writing was on the wall at the end of the penultimate round; Hall just lost interest completely, knew he wasn't gonna fathom out Small. It was a very impressive finishing barrage from Small.
Hall looked to me like he gave up and dident really try,Small just ran and held early on and the ref did nothing about it,that said I'd picked Small to win anyway.
Hall was a sitting target throwing big shots. No jab, no body work, too square on, flawed cross guard that kept getting him hit, no decent combos, same moves over and over. Hall could have won but if you are going to keep eating shots then you'll get broken down. Props to Small for unleashing to close the show.
Small did what he had to do, soaked up the early pressure, tired out Hall, then got him later in the fight. Good fight though.