By Elliot Foster

Paul Smith made a successful return to the ring in the North West.

The pundit moved to 36-6 (21 KOs) and improved his record after 11 months out of the ring in the opening fight on the undercard of Anthony Crolla’s WBA lightweight title defence against Ismael Barroso, which will be screened on Sky Sports, at the Manchester Arena.

Smith campaigns at super middleweight when in championship action and took just three rounds to get rid of vastly overmatched Czech opponent Bronislav Kubin, who slipped to 18-19-2 (11).

It was reasonably straightforward for the 33-year-old, who won the first round comfortably.

The second round brought about more spite from the Liverpudlian as he scored two knockdowns.

But it was the third round which ultimately proved to be the end, causing an embrace between Smith and his coach Joe Gallagher –– who has three more fighters on the card –– as Smith scored another knockdown that meant the referee stopped the fight after just 45 seconds of the stanza.

He has been inactive since being stopped by Andre Ward inside nine rounds in Oakland, California last June, but Smith will now be looking to box regularly and keep active.

Boxing Scene understands that Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sport will consider adding ‘Real Gone Kid’ to the Bank Holiday boxing bonanza at Goodison Park on May 29, which is headed up by the vacant WBC cruiserweight title showdown between Tony Bellew and Ilunga Makabu and features Stephen Smith in a vacant WBC Silver super featherweight title fight and ex-British and Commonwealth heavyweight king David Price.