Arthur Abraham Retains WBO Super Middleweight Title

BERLIN — Arthur Abraham retained his WBO super middleweight title by defeating Paul Smith of England on points in Berlin on Saturday night.

The judges scored their rematch 116-112, 117-111, 117-111 in favor of Abraham, who again dominated in the face of a spirited challenge from Smith, who had been angered after losing their first bout in September last year in Kiel.

The Armenian-born German seemed comfortable taking Smith’s punches and was more effective with his own, delivering punishing barrages that the Liverpudlian did well to weather.

“It was a tough fight. He fought to the end, and he took a lot of hard punches. Respect to him,” Abraham said.

Abraham improved to 42-4 (28 KOs) after making the third defense of the title he won back from Robert Stieglitz by split decision in March 2014. Smith dropped to 35-5 (20 KOs).