McCline-Smith
Big time McCline is 36 and hasn't looked good in a while. He's been beating some low-rent bums lately trying to pad his record in an attept to get another title shot. I was at the McCline-Calloway fight and scored it 97-93 but could easily have been 96-94. Calloway is by far the best guy McCline has beat since losing a lopsided decision to Zuri Lawrence, a loss he blaims on a blood disease that is now under control. Excuses...excuses...Calloway and McGee have both been stopped several times in their careers but they both went the distance with McCline back to back...this year.
Terry Smith is not a great fighter, but he's good and he has a ton of heart. What he lacks in skill, he'll make up for with his work rate and determination. McCline fades pretty fast, after the 5th or 6th round, Smith should be able to outhustle and outland the huge, lumbering McCline. I was only 25 feet from the Calloway fight and McCline looked extremely uncoordinated to me, size is his best asset.
Smith recently went 10 rounds with Calvin brock who's not a great fighter either but he has some power, almost killed the guy that schooled McCline for 10 rounds. Anyway, Smith was a late replacement and took the fight on very short notice. Still he held his own against Brock, one judge had it 96-94, the other judges gave Smith 3 rounds. On short notice he did quite well agianst another guy who schooled McCline for 10 rounds.
Here's the kicker, location...location...location
Smith is from Little Rock, AR which is only a few hours from Tulsa, OK where this fight will take place.
Smith has fought in Oklahoma 14 times in the last 5 years, thats almost 3 times a year. And 10 of those fights were in Tulsa!
There one thing you can be sure of in this fight, Smith has the hometown advantage here and the crowd will cheer every time he throws a punch whether it lands or not. Very tough spot for McCline here, who always fades late in the fight and doesn't have a high work rate anyway.
gl bl