Liam Smith called for a big fight after taking out dangerous power puncher Hassan Mwakinyo inside four rounds on Saturday night.
‘Beefy’ topped a packed BOXXER card at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool against the man many British fight fans will remember for the one-round demolition job he did on Sam Eggington in 2018.
The first couple of rounds were quiet but things got interesting in round three when Mwakinyo hit the deck and appeared to be struggling to get back to his feet.
The Liverpool crowd thought their man had scored a knockdown, but the referee quickly made it clear that wasn’t the case. Despite that, the fight momentarily appeared to be over as the Tanzanian was visibly suffering from an ankle injury.
After getting back to his feet, Mwakinyo seemed fine. Although, he did nothing to ingratiate himself to the Liverpool crowd when he landed a powerful shot on Smith after the bell had sounded to end the third frame.
A visibly angry Smith made his opponent pay in the following round, dropping him twice before the bout was waved off to a chorus of cheers that quickly turned to boos directed at Mwakinyo, who in the eyes of many had quit.
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During his post-fight interview, the Liverpudlian seemed disappointed that he was unable to give the people at the M&S Bank Arena a proper finish.
“I don’t know what happened. I didn’t really do too much early on because Hassan was wild, I’m a bit gutted I never gave the fans a proper finish but it’s out of my hands,” Smith told Sky Sports.
“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.”
Smith is highly ranked with major sanctioning bodies the WBC, WBO, and the WBA. He’s well positioned for a world title shot in the near future after this latest win.
The 34-year-old has revived his career with back-to-back wins over Jesse Vargas and Anthony Fowler after suffering a contentious defeat against Magomed Kurbanov in Russia last year.
Now, he’s got a watchful eye on a couple of upcoming fights.
The first is a British blockbuster between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn which is set for October. The second is undisputed light-middleweight champion Jermell Charlo’s upcoming clash with Tim Tszyu.
“Just get me a big fight, I’ve been moaning about it for ages, people are probably bored of me saying it,” Smith added.
“I’ll fight the winner of either. Everyone in here knows that I’ll fight the winner tomorrow. So, if any of them [want to] mention my name or fight me, fire away.”