Arthur Abraham vs. Paul Smith RBR

I really don't understand why people always point the fingers at Germany.
The US features the most disgraceful robberies every other week. The UK is known for the most crooked referees on the planet, with 9 counts, british stoppages and even carrying a senseless fighter to his corner.
Germany is bad, we know that. But it seems a convenient way to divert attention from their own ****.

Worst thing is "I'm not going to fight in ...... because of the corruption" after having benefited from the same kind of corruption in their own country.
Americans use that excuse a lot not to travel.

Do you really need to have an outsider's perspective to see this?

 

:goodI never thought it was necessary to have an outsider (born and bred in the U.S., lived here my whole life). To me, there's more shame in being in denial that one's country has their own B.S. and unfair play as it relates to boxing than to be in massive denial over it. Still, there is a lot of nationalism that rears its head when the topic comes up.

There's plenty of proof to show this happens everywhere. Scapegoating one country as though they're the exception to the rule (that everywhere else is fair) is inaccurate and trivializes how widespread this **** is. We can't even pretend to fix the problem if we ignore it's there, and it's everywhere.

 

Abraham isn't even German.

 

It's an international problem but Germany is quite clearly the worst offender.

 

I scored this Sky Sports main event for Abraham, 7-5 rounds, 115-113 points, giving Smith the 2nd, 7th, and 9th through 11th rounds. The 10th and especially the 11th rounds were the closest, but still I thought each of the individual rounds were reasonably straightforward to score.

The two mostly exchanged jabs throughout the 1st round, those from Abraham generally being the harder and sharper. Smith landed a grazing overhand right about 50 seconds into the round, and a right to the body about 15 seconds after that. Abraham landed an overhand right halfway through the round. Smith landed a right to the body, and later a grazing overhand right. With a few seconds left in the round, Abraham missed an overhand right, which Smith countered a short right hook.

The two exchanged jabs to start the 2nd, those from Smith being the better, including one jab head-jab body combo. Smith landed a jab-R body combo. At 1:15 into the round, Abraham landed a jab-R body-L hook head combo. Smith landed three good jabs. Abraham then landed two good jabs, and then a jab-overhand R combo. Brief exchange in which Abraham landed a right to the body which Smith countered with a left hook to the head. Smith threw two jab-overhand R combos into Abraham's gloves. Smith landed a jab head-jab body combo. Smith landed a few good jabs, then with about 10 seconds left in the round, he landed a R-L body combo and threw a sweeping right hook which Abraham partially blocked.

The two exchanged jabs to start the 3rd, those from Abraham being the sharper. Smith threw an overhand right that Abraham blocked. Smith landed a few jabs, then Abraham landed a couple good jabs and then threw an overhand right that Smith blocked. Abraham landed several strong jabs. Smith landed a couple potshot jabs, then threw a few jabs and an overhand right which Abraham blocked. Halfway into the round, Abraham landed a good right hook to the head, and then a jab-straight R combo. Smith landed a good right to the body, then a good R hook head-L hook body-R hook head combo with 1:00 left in the round. Abraham responded by landing a good clubbing overhand right, and then a jab-overhand R combo. Abraham pressed forward but Smith evaded and landed a good right to the body. Smith landed a jab, then a jab head-jab body combo, then a sweeping right hook to the head. Abraham then connected with a flashy jab-R-L-R-R hooking combo to the head. Smith landed a R to the body, Abraham landed a jab-overhand R combo.

The two exchanged jabs to start the 4th, those from Abraham being the sharper. About a minute into the round, Smith landed a jab-R hook body combo. Halfway through the round, Abraham threw an overhand right that Smith partially blocked, then he landed a sweeping left hook, and then he threw a jab and a straight right into Smith's gloves. With 1:20 left in the round, Abraham landed a good thumping double left hook to the body. With a minute left in the round, Abraham threw a jab-straight R combo that Smith partially blocked, and then he landed a jab-R hook body combo. A few seconds later, with Abraham in the corner, Smith landed a R-L body combo. With 10 seconds left in the round, Abraham threw a showy combo hook flurry, with one of the lefts getting through.

Abraham began the 5th by working a sharp jab, then at 30 seconds in he landed a left hook to the body, then at 40 seconds in he landed a jab-jab-overhand R combo. Smith landed a jab head-jab body combo, and seconds later he threw a straight right into Abraham's gloves and landed a good left to the body. Abraham landed his own good left to the body. Abraham threw two jab-overhand R combos which backed Smith against the ropes, though Smith blocked them. Abraham landed a hard “sickening” jab and a then a good jab-overhand R combo. Smith wildly missed an overhand left. Abraham landed a few good jabs. The last minute was mostly exchanges of potshots and partially blocked shots, though Abraham landed a couple good jabs.

Smith began the 6th with a jab-R hook body combo, and then a jab head-jab body combo. Abraham landed a couple jabs, then a jab-straight R combo. Abraham threw two sweeping rights and a sweeping left that Smith blocked. Smith worked his jab, Abraham mostly parrying, and Smith landed a good right to the body. Smith landed a few sharper jabs. Abraham threw a double left hook and a right hook that Smith blocked. Smith worked his jab for a few moments, and threw an overhand right that Abraham blocked. Abraham maneuvered Smith into a corner, landed a jab-jab-overhand R combo, then he landed a good jab, and then a good right hook behind Smith's gloves with 40 seconds left in the round. Abraham then maneuvered Smith against the ropes, missed a couple overhand rights, landed a good R hook body-L hook head combo, but Smith escaped the ropes and landed an overhand right, and then a sweeping right hook to the body. Abraham responded by landing a sweeping left hook, then he landed a few good jabs, and then he threw a couple overhand rights into Smith's gloves.

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The first 45 seconds of the 7th was mostly potshots, Smith the busier, but during this time Smith did also land a good right to the body, a decent jab, and a good left hook to the body. Abraham then landed a couple hard jabs and a hard straight right. Abraham landed a couple potshot jabs, Smith countered with a grazing overhand right. Abraham landed a couple good jabs. Smith landed a couple potshot jabs, and threw a couple straight punches into Abraham's gloves. Smith landed a really good L hook body-hard jab combo that snapped Abraham's head back. Abraham quickly responded by landing a jab-overhand R combo, then he threw an overhand right that Smith partially blocked, then he threw several sweeping power punches that Smith mostly blocked. Smith landed an excellent L hook body-L uppercut-overhand R combo. This put Abraham on the back foot with Smith pursuing, and Smith landed a hard right hook to the body followed by a hard right hook to the head behind Abraham's gloves. But Abraham immediately responded and turned Smith with a sweeping flurry of hooks to the head, landing two rights and a left in the process. But Smith kept pursuing, missed a couple punches, Abraham ducked and moved away as the round ended.

The first minute of the 8th was quiet, Smith on the front foot throwing occasional potshots, Abraham on the back foot apparently catching his breath, throwing nothing until a jab 45 seconds into the round. Smith landed a jab-grazing overhand R combo about a minute into the round. Abraham landed a hard jab. Smith threw a couple jabs into Abraham's gloves halfway through the round. Abraham landed a right hook to the body and a grazing overhand left. Abraham threw a few potshot jabs, then with Smith against the ropes he landed an overhand right behind Smith's gloves. Exchange of jabs, then Smith landed a right hook to the body. Smith fired a few jabs into Abraham's gloves with a minute left in the round. The next 30 seconds were quiet, then Abraham threw a hard left hook that Smith blocked. Smith fired a straight right into Abraham's gloves, Abraham wildly missed an overhand right, then each landed a good overhand right. Abraham then started stalking, and he won the round in the last 15 seconds by landing a good straight L-straight R-L hook-straight R combo, then a good jab-straight R combo, then a jab-hard straight R combo. Smith tried to rally, but Abraham initiated the first clinch of the entire fight as the bell rang.

Smith began the 9th on the front foot, landing a couple jabs, then a jab head-jab body combo. Abraham backing up. Smith landed a good jab. Abraham landed a decent L hook-straight R combo. Smith on front foot, exchange of potshots, Smith landed a good R-L hooking body combo. Abraham landed a jab. Smith landed a good (overhand R)-(L uppercut) combo a minute into the round. Abraham landed a good jab, then a good jab-overhand R combo. Abraham plodding forward landed a good jab, Smith responded by landing a jab head-jab body combo. Smith back on front foot, landed a grazing jab and two rights to the body. Abraham rallied forward, and landed a good jab-overhand R combo with Smith against the ropes, then he landed two good jabs and had an overhand right blocked by Smith. Abraham stalking, threw a weak jab that Smith countered with an excellent R-L body combo that had Abraham briefly doubled over, and Smith followed up a few seconds later with a big overhand right behind Abraham's gloves, and then a good left hook to the head; Abraham was now clearly hurt, staggered, backed up to the ropes, looking weary, moving around the edge of the ring, hoping for respite. Smith pursued, but could only land a single jab to the body, and Abraham managed to rally, landing a jab-jab-overhand R combo and then landing a jab-overhand R combo with 30 seconds left in the round. Smith tried to get back on the front foot, but Abraham was able to dodge and move the last 20 seconds of the round, landing a grazing jab-overhand R in the process, and then clinch near the bell.

The two exchanged a few jabs for the first minute of the 10th. A minute into the round, Smith threw an overhand right that Abraham partially blocked, then Smith landed a jab-R body combo, then Smith landed a good right hook behind Abraham's gloves. The two then exchanged a few good jabs, the crowd started chanting “Arthur” to rally their fighter, and then Abraham stalked Smith into a corner and landed two overhand rights through Smith's high guard at the halfway point of the round. Abraham backed off, let Smith out of the corner, then threw an overhand right and a jab, both of which Smith blocked, then Abraham initiated a brief clinch, then retreated into a corner, where Smith threw a R-L body combo that did not quite connect. Abraham retreated around the ring with Smith following, Smith landed a couple jabs and a right hook to the body. Abraham rallied by landing a cuffing left hand and a hard straight right, and then snuck through a couple overhand rights. Smith got Abraham into a corner and missed a flurry but had Abraham looking visibly weary, then Smith landed a right hook behind Abraham's gloves. The last 25 seconds of the round were relatively quiet, but Smith did land a cuffing R-L combo to the head, right after which Abraham took a really deep inhale.

The first 30 seconds of the 11th were quiet, then Smith landed a potshot jab head-jab body combo, and then about 15 seconds later he landed another. Abraham threw a sweeping left uppercut to the body that landed noticeably low, but Smith seemed unaffected. Abraham followed with a L-R-L-R-L-R hooking combo to the body, with only the last punch of the combo not landing. A minute into the round, Abraham landed three successive jab-hard straight R combos to the head. Abraham then looked for a breather, briefly clinched a couple times, after the second of which the referee spoke to him about the clinching. Just past the halfway point of the round, Smith landed a nice left hook to the body, and a couple seconds later he landed a nice right hook to the body. With about a minute left in the round, Smith landed a good R-L hooking combo to the body. Brief exchange of jabs, Smith landed a grazing overhand right, then Smith landed another good R-L hooking combo to the body. Abraham responded with a jab-hard straight R-cuffing L hook combo. Smith then responded with a jab-hard overhand R combo, then he landed a right hand, Abraham blocked another right hand, Smith landed a very nice left uppercut, then he landed a R-L hooking body combo, then near the bell he threw a hard overhand right that Abraham blocked.

The 12th began quietly, just a few jabs exchanged, until 35 seconds into the round Abraham attempted a left uppercut which Smith countered by landing a hard overhand right. Abraham then on front foot, Smith surprisingly backing up, then a minute into the round Abraham landed a jab-R body combo, and Smith replied by lunging forward and landing a sweeping right hook to the body. Just past the 1 minute point of the round, Abraham landed a jab, and then a jab-hard overhand R combo. Abraham still on front foot, Smith backing up, Abraham landed a couple jabs and missed a couple overhand rights, then he landed two successive hard overhand rights. Smith missed a couple punches, then landed a L-R hooking combo behind Abraham's gloves. Smith now on front foot but not really pressing, threw an overhand right that Abraham blocked, landed a right hook to the body, landed a good overhand right. With 45 seconds left in the round, Abraham threw two overhand rights that Smith blocked, then he threw two more that missed, then Smith clinched. With less than 30 seconds left, Smith landed a short overhand right that Abraham countered with a hard overhand left that stiffened Smith's legs. Smith then threw two jab-overhand right combos into Abraham's gloves, and then Abraham threw two hard overhand rights that Smith blocked. The two maneuvered along the ropes, and were in a clinch in a corner when the final bell rang to end the fight.

This was a genuinely entertaining fight. The entire fight was fought at a reasonably brisk pace, mostly in the centre of the ring, but both fighters moved sufficiently well to also work the periphery of the ring. There seemed relatively little to distinguish the two in this fight. Both fighters consistently worked behind their jabs, threw numerous overhand rights and some good powerful right and left hooks, and did consistently good work to the body. Neither fighter was ever in clear control of the fight, they both took their turns being on top and being the one moving forward in attack, and their workrates seemed pretty even. They each preferred being at arm's length from each other, so there were only 4-5 clinches during the entire fight. Defensively, both kept their gloves pretty high and tight for the duration of the fight, effectively blocking many jabs and power punches in the process. But in the end, Abraham's punches, especially his jabs, overhand rights, jab-overhand right combos, and body shots, were consistently a bit sharper, and were generally (certainly not always) the more powerful, and although he was visibly fatigued by the 10th round, his workrate was consistently good enough throughout the fight to deserve a close decision. Even Eddie Hearn and the Sky Sports commentators, to their credit, did not dispute that Abraham deserved a close decision (Jim Watt did score the fight 115-113 for Smith, but his round-by-round scorecard differed from mine in only the 6th and 8th rounds). However, the official scorecards of 117-111 x2 and (especially) 119-109 were an absolute travesty, and the WBO's promise to investigate the 119-109 score is the least that should be done. Whether or not a rematch results, based on this fight I look forward to seeing both fighters again.