Abraham retains WBO super middleweight title

Arthur Abraham. (Matthias Schrader/AP)

BERLIN — Arthur Abraham retained his WBO super middleweight belt by defeating Paul Smith of England by unanimous decision for the second time on Saturday.

The judges scored their rematch 116-112, 117-111, 117-111 in favour of Abraham, who again dominated in the face of a spirited challenge from Smith. Smith was angered to lose their first bout in September in Kiel, Germany, but there could no doubt about the winner here.

The Armenian-born German seemed comfortable taking Smith’s punches and was more effective with his own, delivering punishing barrages that the Liverpudlian did well to weather.

Abraham improved to 42-4 (28 KOs) after making the third defence of the title he won back from Robert Stieglitz by split decision in March 2014. Smith dropped to 35-5 (20 KOs).

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