Paul Smith denied Abraham rematch

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Paul Smith will not be mandated an immediate rematch clause against WBO Super Middleweight champion Arthur Abraham.

The WBO has denied Smith’s petition for an immediate rematch following a review of the video of their controversial fight Sept. 27 at Sparkassen-Arena in Kiel, Germany.

Smith and Abraham put on a highly competitive fight, with Abraham coming away with a unanimous decision to retain his 168-pound title. But the scores from judges Fernando Laguna (119-109) of Spain, Waleska Roldan (117-110) of New York and Zoltan Enyedi (117-110) of Hungary were roundly criticized because many thought they were way too wide given the back-and-forth nature of the fight.

“First and foremost, I’d like to say that I have a lot of respect for Arthur Abraham,” Smith said. “He is a great champion, and we had a great fight. But I think the judges got it wrong. I’ve been waiting a long time for this opportunity. I just wanted a fair crack at the whip and I don’t think I got that.”

“Of course I would fight Paul again,” Abraham said. “I’m sure it would be another exciting fight. However, the circumstances would need to be right. At the moment, the most interesting fight for me would be [Felix] Sturm or [Robert] Stieglitz.”