Former WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith (27-1 19 KOs) says he’s moving up to 175 after losing his title to Canelo Alvarez by an embarrassingly one-sided 12 round unanimous decision last December.
It’s going to be tough for Smith, 31, to capture a world title at 175 because they punch a lot harder in this division than 168.
Callum can’t afford to shell up on the ropes at 175
Also, the bad habits that we’ve seen from Callum in backing up against the ropes and shelling up, it’ll leave him open to getting blasted out by guys like Artur Beterbiev, Joe Smith Jr or, and Joshua Buatsi.
In some respects, Callum would be better off staying at 168 if he’s not going to fix the flaws in his game.
If Callum fails to succeed at 175, we could see him return to the 168-lb division soon.
Until gets his feet wet at 175 and knows for sure he can exist in this weight class, he should look at this as an experiment.
To see if Callum can handle the firepower at 175, I would suggest that he fight one of these guys as soon as possible:
- Joshua Buatsi
- Badou Jack
- Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez
- Marcus Browne
- Jesse Hart
- Callum Johnson
- Anthony Yarde
- Craig Richards
- Sergey Kovalev
- Sullivan Barrera
If Callum can’t beat these guys, he needs to flee the division, and move back down to the relative safety of the 168-lb weight class.
The tall 6’3″ stork-like Smith should have moved up to 175 in 2019 after his poor performance in beating John Ryder by a very questionable 12 round unanimous decision on home turf in Liverpool, England.
To say that Callum was given a gift decision is being kind to him. He deserved a clear defeat against Ryder on the night.
By giving him a decision win, it allowed Callum to get a career-high payday against Canelo, making him millions. Callum is now set for life as long as he doesn’t blow the money foolishly.
The scores for the Callum vs. Ryder fight were 116-112, 117-111, 116-112. This writer had Ryder winning 115-113.
Unfortunately for Callum Smith, there aren’t any super popular fighters like Canelo Alvarez in the 175-lb division. So for that reason, Smith will have to downsize his purse expectations.
Should Eddie Hearn dump Callum Smith?
Unless someone like Jake Paul or his brother Logan Paul chooses to fight him, Smith will have to be content with the smaller paychecks that he’ll be getting at 175.
It’s unclear whether Eddie Hearn and his Matchroom Boxing company will choose to keep Callum around for much longer. It would seem like Callum is at the end of his rope, especially with him moving up to 175.
Given the tough road ahead for Callum, it might be a good idea for Hearn to cut some of the fat from his Matchroom stable by parting ways with Callum unless he can prove himself quickly at 175 that he can exist with these fighters.
