By Shaun Brown
Liam Smith will have “three or four” defences of his WBO World light middleweight title in 2016 according to his promoter Frank Warren.
Smith, broke down and finished a game Jimmy Kelly in seven rounds tonight at the Manchester Arena and ends 2016 having made a successful first defence of his world title.
Warren, who also promotes WBO World lightweight champion Terry Flanagan, told Boxnation’s Charlie Webster afterwards:
“Next year he’ll get three or four defences under his belt and one of them will be a biggie. And he’s capable of beating big name fighters,” said Warren.
He added that he would like Smith’s second defence of his world title to be on the February 13 show at Liverpool’s Echo Arena headlined by Terry Flanagan against Derry Mathews. The champion admitted he would love to defend his title in his home town.
However, after two hard training camps for the Kelly fight, and when he won the world title against John Thompson he said would have to think things over and hinted he would make a decision in the next couple of days.
“He’s going on holiday first,” said Warren.
“We’ll sit down when he comes back and work out an opponent. The [Miguel] Cotto fight, if we could make that, we’d all be happy but it’s not about the other fighters it’s about him [Smith]. He’s got a long way to go. He’s only going to get better and better.”
Shaun Brown is Boxing Scene’s UK News Editor. Follow him on Twitter @sbrown2pt0. Contact him at sbrownboxing@gmail.com
