Champion came into the rematch in full focus
Sunday 22 February 2015 07:37, UK
Paul Smith put on a brave display but was beaten by Arthur Abraham again and Glenn McCrory admits it was always going to down to the champion's approach..
Basically, I always thought that what Arthur Abraham did would decide this rematch - and that's what happened.
You saw Smith's reaction afterwards; he knew as well. The real Arthur Abraham turned up.
If anyone was wondering if he took that world title defence too lightly last time, the answer was right in front of our eyes for 12 hard and harsh rounds for Paul.
Don't get me wrong, Paul did everything he could've done. It was just that this time, this was Abraham closer to full pelt, even at the age of 35.
Yes we know he can be lazy, and he still was at times in Berlin, but it was only occasionally. Last time was continuously. Paul made a great start and looked good but Abraham got a rocket up his backside and albeit slowly, soon got going.
We all feared that would be the case and there's no shame in that. You saw Smith's reaction afterwards; he knew as well. The real Arthur Abraham turned up.
The last thing he is going to lose is that punch power so we knew he was going to hit hard - and he did. Smith took a lot and to get through that shows just how brave and how tough he is.
But there was no doubting the scoring this time, so Paul can be proud of his performance and him and Joe Gallagher had a gameplan that was good enough, it was just this time the world champion was better.
We knew it was a tall order and no-one really expected Smith and Martin Murray in Monaco pull off surprises but you can't do nothing but applaud the way that stood their ground.
