“He said he slipped. He just quit. It doesn’t take a genius to work that out. I said about the sparring story, I knew he had it in him.”
Hassan Mwakinyo had fallen down during the previous round and briefly seemed to be hurt.
However, he abruptly took a stand and started firing, hitting Smith with a powerful back-hand hook. That gave him motivation, and he continued his assault after that, even hitting Smith after the round had ended and the bell had rang.
“I didn’t really do too much early on because Hassan was wild,” Smith reflected, left confused by the ending himself. “I don’t know what happened.
“I hadn’t even got going, I was jabbing, I knew Hassan would be wild and tire early and then I’d take over.”
Smith just wants to move on. “People are probably bored of me saying it,” he maintained. “Just get me a big fight.”
Smith, who is highly regarded by the WBC, WBO, and WBA governing bodies, is still in a position to obtain a crack at a significant belt and attempt to repeat as world champion.
He was taking a chance by facing Mwakinyo, a tough puncher who had previously stopped Sam Eggington in the UK.
He may have started the opening round gradually with that in mind, firing careful jabs as he assessed the Tanzanian.
But Smith already shown some signs of class. Smith pounded a strong left through an opening in Mwakinyo’s defence. To prevent Mwakinyo from responding, he screwed that lead into the body and kept his own gloves raised.
However, there were risks associated with Mwakinyo in the battle as well.
He was busy in the third round since he was aware he needed to find more. He extended his jab and followed it up with a crisp right uppercut to the chin. Smith had to take a moment to gather himself.
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