Should Callum Smith retire?

No, he should move to 175. He took the fight against Alvarez at short notice, plus his game plan was completely useless.

If fighters retired after losing to top fighters then there would be very little top boxers around, or compelling stories to tell about the rise, fall, and rise of a boxer. Whether it was a schooling, a savage KO, or a 12 round beating. Manny Pacquiao got KO'ed twice by two nobodies and came back to become champion in 8 weight classes, including Lineal champion of 5 weight classes. And make not only a HOF career out of it, but also becoming a legendary ATG who will be spoken about for centuries. Bernard Hopkins lost his first real test in Roy Jones Jr, and came back to make a HOF career winning titles at 160 and 175, becoming the Lineal/Ring champion in both weight classes and making defense records as well as breaking age barriers that will likely not be replicated within our lifetime. Wladimir Klitschko was stopped 3 times in the first 8 years of his career, then changed his style and went on a 10 year, 22-fight win streak (19 title fights). He also won The Ring/Lineal championship where he defended it successfully 12 times, unified the IBF, WBO, and WBA titles and easily went from mediocre fighter to HOF fighter and surely makes the top 100 greatest fighters of all time with that run. That's just off the top of my head. There's probably so many fighters who were whooped badly and came back to have a great career, that you can write a whole volume of books about it. Beatings can make you or break you. There's literally such a thing as learning from your mistakes/losses and using it to make a better you in the future.

Callum must be proud of him self. Based on Canelo beating him clearly, many guys there believe Canelo beats everybody in the world and all past 160/168 guys in the world.

What is it with people’s obsession with people retiring if they lose one fight? What a way to ruin our sport You've got to just call it what it is. They're casuals. If fighters should retire after one loss, then we'll never see any decent fights until guys hit mid 30s and want a cash out. Callum has plenty left.

I concur! I wouldn't mind NOT seeing him again. Ever. I'm glad his bicep is torn so he can take even longer off. I know it sounds harsh but my man just didn't show up AT ALL. People can say what they want about fighters deserving respect blah blah blah. Stop it. If you're an undefeated champion and a PROFESSIONAL, then why are you struggling to make weight and not showing up to fight??? There's no excuse for it. If he knew he was having trouble making weight, then why not start earlier? The fight was announced sometime last month I believe but Callum KNEW there was a chance he'd fight Canelo months before the announcement. Again, if you're getting paid MILLIONS to train, make weight and put up an exceptional fight, then you should deliver. Period. I see if he was fighting some no-name guy, that wouldn't motivate a lot fighters out there to train better and harder. FFS, Callum....you're fighting Canelo and you mean to tell me that's ALL you brought to the table? FOH! I'm not buying it or feeling bad for any of these guys. Again, Callum was just Rocky Fielding 2.0....he almost couldn't believe he was in the venue. Sad. I think his conditioning was fine 'It was just his game plan, it was completely useless'. If Alvarez has one weakness? It is that he has slow movement, and also his stamina is not really great. Smith just proceeded to let Alvarez slowly march towards him all night 'That was unacceptable, for a fighter with such a size advantage'. I will tell you one thing? If Chris Eubank Junior fights Alvarez, he will leave it all in the ring.

Not retire, but I doubt he can get the belt at 175. Russians all beat him, Joe Smith also.

Can't see him beating the top guys at 175. He's flawed, but might find more success just due to his size. Hope to see a Ryder rematch soon.

Probably he should move to 175 if moving to 175 means he will have the energy to not just lie against the ropes. Seriously though, he still beats 90% of the division, should they all retire? lots of stupid talk...

You should retire from the Internet.

What is it with people’s obsession with people retiring if they lose one fight? What a way to ruin our sport

I think he is done. He seems like the type to make good money, see the difference between himself and the truly elite, then hang them up or find contentment out of fighting in the background of world boxing. I liked him too but he doesn’t seem like he’s a Froch type. Lose to an elite then shred the whole division afterwards.

Some classless scum on this forum. I agree, whole lot of hate in there heart for someone they've never met and smith showed great heart absorbing that punishment for 12 rounds. I dare say they wouldnt last half a round against canelo let alone 12.

No offence but this doesn't seem to make much sense. If most of them are doing it then they don't actually have a weight advantage do they because their opponents are doing the same thing? If anything the problem is in the heavyweight division. You can get huge size/weight differences. Not all are doing this, but plenty are. They get found out when they can no longer starve them selves down. How many times have you heard “he’s huge for the weight” , anytime your hear that sentence you have a weight bully in the ring. Off top of my head, Callum Smith ( latest example), Tank, Spence, Hatton..all of these walked around stones over the fight weight naturally, not necessarily overweight either. Strange example of this is Bellew, killed himself to make light heavy, got beat senseless by Adonis. Stopped trying to weigh the same a a skinny teenager, came back as a man in the cruisers and had a good end to his career. A stranger example is fighters who are too lazy to lose weight and could have been a force at lower weights. John McDermot springs to mind, had a huge punch, good chin etc.. would have been a good light heavy/cruiser, was never a heavy in a million years, he was just fat.

He’s made a lot of money between this and the WBSS so he could. I think he’ll go to 175 though.

I have a problem with most the fighters in lower weights, nearly all of them are fighting well under there actual healthy weight. They just aren’t good enough to mix it with other fighters without having a size advantage. No offence but this doesn't seem to make much sense. If most of them are doing it then they don't actually have a weight advantage do they because their opponents are doing the same thing? If anything the problem is in the heavyweight division. You can get huge size/weight differences.

Maybe Canelo should have retired after he lost to Floyd... Exactly. These so called boxing fans are no better than casual fans hollering “retire” or “he’s done” Sounding almost like cancel culture bs

I can see him moving upto light heavy, you have the likes of Yarde who is looking to build back up for a big domestic fight. The is reality no grown man as tall as him should be fighting under cruiserweight. I have a problem with most the fighters in lower weights, nearly all of them are fighting well under there actual healthy weight. They just aren’t good enough to mix it with other fighters without having a size advantage.

He definitely won’t get another big fight with any of the other champs at SMW and got absolutely embarrassed by Nelo. He can go home with his head held down and enjoy his 5 million in peace. Unless he comes back and starches another SMW champ which is extremely unlikely, similar to how I feel about Danny Garcia, I think they’re done. What other champ will fight them after that ****show? One loss against the p4p best doesn’t mean you should retire! If what you are saying about him is true then the top fighters at SMW will actually be queuing up to fight him because it would be an easy win against a former ring champ only ever beaten by Canelo, looks great on paper and according to you an low risk fight as he is shot It makes sense for the other too guys

I concur! I wouldn't mind NOT seeing him again. Ever. I'm glad his bicep is torn so he can take even longer off. I know it sounds harsh but my man just didn't show up AT ALL. People can say what they want about fighters deserving respect blah blah blah. Stop it. If you're an undefeated champion and a PROFESSIONAL, then why are you struggling to make weight and not showing up to fight??? There's no excuse for it. If he knew he was having trouble making weight, then why not start earlier? The fight was announced sometime last month I believe but Callum KNEW there was a chance he'd fight Canelo months before the announcement. Again, if you're getting paid MILLIONS to train, make weight and put up an exceptional fight, then you should deliver. Period. I see if he was fighting some no-name guy, that wouldn't motivate a lot fighters out there to train better and harder. FFS, Callum....you're fighting Canelo and you mean to tell me that's ALL you brought to the table? FOH! I'm not buying it or feeling bad for any of these guys. Again, Callum was just Rocky Fielding 2.0....he almost couldn't believe he was in the venue. Sad.

I don't know. That was an embarrassing performance but I'm sure there are still fights for him.