After a professional career spanning over 11 years, an opportunity to compete for a world title had been a long time coming for British super-middleweight Paul Smith, but on September 27, 2014, the Liverpudlian was given his chance to achieve his dream in Kiel against WBO title holder Arthur Abraham.
Given the company that Abraham had shared a ring with, it was considered a tough ask for Smith to make a successful return to these shores, but after the controversial scoring of the three judges, the 32-year-old's losing effort hit the headlines as much as a positive result would have seen him come under the spotlight. It was a closely-fought fight in Germany, one that was arguably difficult to score and a bout where it was easy to lean towards your own man, but scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 119-109 gave the Smith camp a voice to chase a deserved rematch.
What had been so impressive about Smith was his work-rate and willingness to follow Joe Gallagher's gameplan to the letter. He was stepping into a ring with a relatively big puncher, and after previous stoppage defeats to James DeGale and George Groves, it would have been easy for Smith to take a negative mindset into the biggest 12 rounds of his career. But it was sink or swim time, and Smith's approach and attitude from the first bell was exemplary and that probably took Abraham by surprise.
At the time, 34-year-old Abraham was a veteran of 44 matches and had only lost four times, all to elite-level fighters. He had no reason to fear Smith, who could only boast a couple of British title victories over Tony Dobson as his career highlight. But despite only two years separating them in age, one man indicated that he was ready to up his game and another showed signs that a long career may be catching up on him.
Abraham started and finished the fight well, but during the majority of the middle rounds, Smith was sharper, more active and was seemingly doing enough to have at least five rounds in the bank before the closing stages. The belief was that a worst-case scenario had Smith losing 115-113, not one judge awarding just the one round. Smith, Gallagher, and promoter Eddie Hearn had every reason to feel aggrieved and after lobbying with the WBO - who agreed the scoring was unjust - and Abraham's promoter Kalle Sauerland, we arrive at the rematch in Berlin on Saturday night.
After seeing Smith match Abraham over the distance, many believe that the British competitor has as much chance of capturing the belt as Abraham has of defending it, but so many factors need to be considered ahead of the second encounter. From Smith's perspective, he has proven that he can live with the Armenian-born German representative and has little reason to fear the power possessed by his opponent, but from Abraham's point of view, he would have learned plenty about the challenger, who hadn't been required to showcase his full repertoire for the majority of his career.
Smith knows that his work-rate must be incredibly high to have any chance of earning a points victory in Germany, but he can't go looking for a knockout from round one. Abraham is an experienced operator who will set traps for his opponent, and while Smith will likely be calculated with his approach, he can't be completely dismissive of Abraham's power, despite him not recording a stoppage victory since the end of 2012.
It's a knockout that both men are predicting though, and if they take their positive mentality into the ring on Saturday, it's difficult to disagree with that assessment. However, it's one of those fights where applying tactics planned out in training that will secure the stoppage, and a win for either man in the championship rounds is as far as we are prepared to predict in what has the potential to be another intriguing showdown.
Undercard
On the undercard, British heavyweight David Price will look to continue his recovery from back-to-back losses to Tony Thompson against Irineu Beato Costa Jr. Injuries have kept the former Olympic bronze medallist sidelined since the summer, but the 31-year-old will need to channel his frustration in a positive way to ensure that he doesn't slip up against what appears to be a capable opponent who has 14 stoppage wins in 19 outings.
Featherweight Josh Warrington also features as he hopes to get a few rounds under his belt ahead of his WBC international contest with Dennis Tuberion in April. The Leeds fighter has become a household name since he started to top the bill at Matchroom Sport's Leeds shows, and he will hope to gain the perfect preparation for the Tuberion fight by making light work of Edwin Tellez.
