O’Meara suffers defeat in title clash

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Steve O’Meara was beaten in his attempt to become Commonwealth light-middleweight champion.

He lost on points to undefeated Liverpudlian Liam Smith, who landed the more telling blows as the pair battled for the vacant title at ExCel London.

O’Meara was floored at the end of the opening round after what appeared to be a clash of heads but was given as a knockdown.

By the third round, O’Meara’s face was bloodied and he was tagged with a couple of stiff rights.

And in the fourth, he seemed to be hurt after a right to the body.

The West Londoner had his moments though and enjoyed a good sixth round in which a right followed by a left appeared to wobble his opponent slightly.

O’Meara showed his slick boxing skills and plenty of heart – and looked to be having real success in the eighth before some worrying moments after he was caught by two thumping rights.

The ninth was another bad round for O’Meara, who was caught with several head shots and was on unsteady legs after a left hook to the temple, which was followed by a big right

To his credit, O’Meara dug deep and did well in the 11th, landing with a couple of hefty shots – including a lovely right uppercut.

Both men went for broke in a scintillating final round in which they stood toe-to-toe and landed with several big shots.

But O’Meara went for it like a man who knew he needed a knockout to take the title – and Smith’s superiority was reflected in the final scorecards.

One judge scored it 118-110, which seemed harsh on O’Meara, while the other two had it 116-112 in Smith’s favour.

See also: O’Meara v Smith as it happened

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