Stephen Smith’s wait for consecutive victories will have to continue as he fell to a gruesome defeat in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
It’s been over two years now since Smith has enjoyed back-to-back wins in the ring but the fighting spirit of the Liverpool boxer remains in no doubt as he was eager to battle on this weekend, despite the fact that his ear was literally hanging off.
The referee was forced to call a halt to the contest in the ninth round after inspecting the damage to Smith’s left ear and deemed him unable to continue in his meeting with Mexico’s Francisco Vargas.
In case you missed it, here’s Stephen Smith’s ear from earlier tonight on HBO #boxing pic.twitter.com/Eie5oQRnI2
— Galaxxy Slice (@SixHeadz) December 10, 2017
An accidental clash of heads is what caused the injury and, with Smith unable to fight on, the judges’ scorecards were consulted and the victory was awarded to Vargas by a Technical Decision of 89-82, 88-83 and 88-83.
Having come up short in recent shots at the WBA super-featherweight title and IBF super-featherweight title, Smith admitted that retirement would become a serious possibility if he felt that he was unable to compete at the elite level.
“This is boxing and I know having had two chances, I might only get one more shot,” Smith said after his loss.
Can we all just put this into perspective please. Stephen Smith pretty much got his ear ripped off tonight and like a warrior still wanted to fight. Rigondeaux quit with a “hand injury” in the biggest fight of his career SHOCKING lack of heart from Rigo! pic.twitter.com/PnRIf6opPF
— Michael Hall (@ThomasHall99) December 10, 2017
“For me it is not about going back to British level, I want to win a world title and defeat can ruin that.”
Smith, a former Commonwealth Games gold medallist, thankfully received immediate medical treatment and had the grisly wound stitched up before he was allowed to return home.
“Thanks very much for all your supportive messages last night, read them all and they mean a lot,” the 32-year-old wrote on Twitter.
“Went to hospital and got my ear stitched back up so hopefully all will heal well.”
Thanks very much for all your supportive messages last night, read them all and they mean a lot. Went to hospital and got my ear stitched back up so hopefully all will heal well. Thanks again for all the love and support. Have a good Christmas everyone x pic.twitter.com/cOun7ST7qX
— Stephen Smith (@SwiftySmith) December 10, 2017