GRUESOME GASH
Smith suffers a sickening injury in losing to Vargas
Stephen Smith suffers a horrific injury against Francisco Vargas in Las Vegas
‘YOU CAN’T LEGISLATE FOR INJURIES LIKE THAT. I’M IN A LOT OF PAIN AND I’M DEVASTATED’
EVEN with all the attention being placed on events in New York, Stephen
“Swifty” Smith may have been the most strongly trending boxer on social media in the aftermath of his 130lb tussle with former world titleholder Francisco Vargas. Not, however, for the reasons he might have hoped: gruesome images and footage earn plenty of shares, and gruesome is the word to describe the freak injury that Smith sustained to his ear and that abbreviated his evening on the Las Vegas Strip.
Barring a dramatic finish, Liverpool’s Smith was well on the road to defeat against Mexico City’s Vargas, before the ringside physicians advised referee Russell Mora to stop the contest in the ninth of 10 scheduled rounds, as the technical decision scorecards of 89-82 from Glenn Trowbridge and 88-83 from Eric Cheek and John Mckaie attested. But he was denied any hope of staging a turnaround when a clash of heads split his left ear down the middle, the outer part hanging loosely as blood gushed from the wound.
The fans in the arena, who had been enjoying a hard-fought battle, initially booed the sudden halt to proceedings for what at first appeared to simply be a bloody ear. But the boos of disappointment turned to groans of disgust when the full extent of the damage was shown on the overhead replay screens. There was simply no way Smith could continue.
The freakish conclusion capped a frustrating night for Smith, who was strafed frequently by the precision punching – and in particular the repeated straight rights – of Vargas when on the outside, and could not match the speed and torque of the Mexican’s punches during the frenzied exchanges the two shared on the inside. It seemed clear that Smith’s goal was to try and maul Vargas, smothering him, keeping him close and perhaps hoping to open Vargas’ suspect skin; but his cause was not aided by Mora repeatedly warning him for holding, a succession of admonitions that Smith understandably appeared to find increasingly wearisome as the fight went on. For Smith, it is a third defeat in his last five fights, and there must be questions about his future at world level, despite the tremendous effort he showed against Vargas. “It was a hard fight after a slow start, but I felt like I was getting the better of things towards the end of it and I really think I could’ve put more and more pressure on him in the last two rounds,” said Smith, whose team “lost count” of the number of stitches he had in the ear. “I don’t think he liked it when I was on the front foot and he was slowing down – but you can’t legislate for
injuries like that. I’m in a lot of pain and I’m devastated, but the only thing right now that matters is that the ear is stitched and fine and that I am getting home to my family on time as planned. We can look at my future plans another day.”
Smith’s bloody battle was the second of four Hbo-televised 130lb bouts; the 10-round main event between Mexicans
Orlando Salido (from Ciudad Obregon) and Miguel Roman (from Ciudad Juarez) was a barnburner. Salido appeared to have the upper hand early, landing booming right hands that rocked Roman in the first and second rounds, but Roman never stopped coming, and in the fourth decked Salido with a three-punch combo.
Roman continued to pressure and pursue Salido until another four-punch combo dropped him again in the eighth. Salido sat on the canvas, appearing to consider his options, before hauling himself to his feet and just beating Robert Byrd’s count; incredibly, he was the one throwing punches at the end of the round.
Another assault in the ninth, however, put Salido down again, and Byrd called a halt at 1-43 of the round.
Roman revealed afterwards that had he lost, he would have retired. Salido announced that, having lost, he was going to do so.
“Time takes its toll. I just couldn’t do it,” said the 37-year-old veteran post-fight. “I am done. This is it. This was my last.”
If it’s the end of the road for Salido, it’s just the start for Monaghan, Ireland’s 18-year-old Aaron Mckenna, who made his professional debut an impressive one, with a 40-36 decision across the board against Travis Conley of Monroe, Texas.
In a night notable for its blood quotient, Denis Shafikov bled profusely and constantly from high on his head, drenching the left side of his body, his opponent Rene Alvarado and referee Tony Weeks. Shafikov, from Miass, Russia, also suffered a fifth-round knockdown that helped Managua, Nicaragua’s Alvarado seal a split decision win by scores of 96-93 (Max Deluca), 96-94 (Dave Moretti) and 94-95 ( John Mckaie).
Philadelphia’s Tevin Farmer appeared to have done enough to secure a wide decision triumph over Tokyo’s Kenichi
Ogawa, but although Tim Cheatham saw him as a 116-112 winner, Mr Deluca and Burt Clements preferred Ogawa’s grafting substance over Farmer’s retreating, circling, shell defence-based style, and awarded the victory to the Japanese boxer with scores of 115-113 and 116112 respectively. Kenny Bayless was the referee. The win saw Ogawa pick up the vacant IBF super-featherweight title.
THE VERDICT
A valiant effort from Smith, but a horrific-looking injury ends his evening in bloody fashion.