Blood and Guts: Smith sees off Dodson after real scare
‘The Real Gone Kid’ almost was gone last night, gone from his British super middleweight throne that is, after suffering horrendous cuts early into his contest with local rival Tony Dodson. Paul Smith was gashed over his left eye almost from the off after butting heads with his challenger as the pair eagerly went about their work. The problem was quickly compounded by an even worse split down Smith’s forehead in round two, again from Dodson’s head, which immediately saw the champion caked in blood. The in-fight betting odds quickly flip-flopped in Dodson’s favour and it looked a racing certainty that Smith would be pulled out of the contest by referee Phil Edwards.
Thankfully, Smith had employed perhaps the best cuts man in the fight game, Mick ‘the knife’ Williamson. Williamson calmly went about stemming what he later came to regard as some of the worst lacerations he’d ever come across in a prize fight. As a former employee of perennial bleeder Ricky Hatton and indeed as the man who worked Ricky’s corner in his bloodbath win over Jon Thaxton, that says a lot.
Dodson meanwhile calmly looked to capitalise on his good fortune, steadily looking to outland Smith in close as the champion struggled to find composure. He nailed Smith in the third with a peach of a left hook and as blood splattered across the Echo Arena ring, referee Edwards called a halt to the action in the fourth to inspect the cracks in Smith’s face. They were desperate moments for the popular Smith.
With renewed urgency, Smith began to outwork Dodson and on my card he took both the fourth and fifth rounds as tension pervaded the arena. Dodson responded in the sixth and landed a fabulous right uppercut which thudded home and caused the blood to pour once more.
It was over the second half of the contest that Smith came into his own. Showing real guts, drive and tenacity, he simply outworked Dodson, landing cleaner shots and in the most part looking in charge. As ever with Smith, he over shot his right hand time and time again, resembling a baseball pitcher winding up a fast ball. If he can shorten this punch in camp, it would surely add a new dimension to his offensive arsenal.
Dodson was deducted a point for wrestling in the tenth as his hopes faded, yet he fought back in the last to take the round on my card. It wasn’t enough however as the referee, with his shirt covered in Smith’s blood, held the champions hand aloft after judges Howard Foster, Marcus McDonnell and Victor Loughlin returned a unanimous decision win with scores of 116-111, 115-112 and 117-112 respectively.
I scored the bout 116-112 (seven rounds to four with one even (the sixth) with the points deduction for Dodson).
Smith moves to 29-1 (15) whilst Dodson falls to 24-6 (12).
Undercard action saw Sheffield welterweight contender Kell Brook play with Poland’s Krzysztof Bienias like a cat plays with a ball of string, winning in six totally one sided rounds.
Light heavyweight prospect Tony Bellew annexed the Commonwealth title (recently discarded by Nathan Cleverly) in stopping the Ghanain novice Atoli Moore in one round.
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