Before his super featherweight fight tonight against Francisco Vargas.
But he’s the number two with the WBC and if I beat him and take that ranking then that puts me close to the mandatory position for the world title anyway, whether the fight ends up an eliminator or not.
“I think it’s a bigger fight than the one we had planned and if I get a world title fight off the back of it, if I beat him with him being the name that he is, then it’s a good move.”
Unfortunately for Smith, he nearly got his ear torn off after suffering an extremely nasty injury in the ninth round.
(Warning video is gruesome.)
The torn ear, which was the result of an accidental clash of heads between the fighters, forced the fight to come to an end in ninth. The fight then went to the judges scorecards and Vargas was able to pull off a technical decision by scores of 89-82, 88-83, 88-83.
Smith looks like he’s going to need major surgery on that ear to get fixed. Pretty fucking nasty.
H/Y Deadspin