On paper (as in the scorecards) Callum Smith (27-0) beat fellow Englishman John Ryder (28-5) to retain his WBA super-middleweight strap. Unfortunately, for Ryder and the sport of boxing itself, the judges were the only ones who saw it that way.
It’s not a good look for Smith, who like fellow countryman Billy Joe Saunders, has been groomed as a potential Canelo Alvarez opponent, but who failed to impress despite winning.
Xu Can and does win
Also on DAZN, China’s only boxing world champion Xu Can (18-2) defeated Manny Robles (18-1) in Indio, CA. Just how good was he? Can threw a whopping 1562 punches and landed 402 of them, easily a featherweight record. The Chinese Golden Boy fighter retains his WBA title.
