With a scintillating display!
Last night at Olympia, in Liverpool, Stephen Smith extended his professional record to 23-1, with 13 wins coming by knockout, in doing so he secured an IBF world title fight against the winner of the forthcoming Pedraza v Cherry fight.
In achieving his twenty-third win, Smith produced the best performance of his career in becoming the first boxer to stop Devis Boschiero.
Boschiero, a former European champion and world-title contender, couldn?t handle the power of Smith?s body-shots and was dropped twice in the sixth round.
In no position to defend himself, the referee Marcus McDonald stopped the contest with fifteen seconds of round six remaining.
Talking to the media after the fight, Smith had this to say,
?He didn?t like it to the body.
?He looked like a bodybuilder, but he looked small to me.?
Smith looked very impressive in his demolition of Boschiero and the defeat he suffered at the hands of Lee Selby looked to have been worked out of his system.
As for his future and that world title bout, his promoter Eddie Hearn had this to say,
?It will be next after the Pedraza-Cherry fight.
?He can go to sleep as the mandatory challenger. He?s announced himself on the world scene. He has everything to believe that he?ll be world champion.?
Indeed, it was that good a performance.
Stephen Smith Grabs His World Title Opportunity
