Smith pulls victory from jaws of defeat with a magical right
Scott Smith is a powerful striker but he's not a defensive whiz. As a result, he's been in plenty of entertaining wars but he always takes his share of abuse. He worked on his head movement since his last win in November but he's clearly not a finished product as Benji Radach smashed him in the face with jabs and combinations throughout the first two rounds. Smith's face was crimson stained from a cut over his left eye. But instead of packing it in, down 20-17 on one scorecard and 20-18 on the other two, Smith turned up the heat in the final round and gassed Radach.
Smith leapt into a right hand with less than two minutes left in the final round as Radach dropped his hands. Radach went down in a heap and Smith threw one more half-hearted punch on the ground. Referee Herb Dean wisely stopped it at 3:24 of the third.
Radach slowly got to his knees. When he tried to stand, he nearly fell over again. It was clear the ref made the right decision.
It was an amazing turnaround for Smith, who looked like he was done and ready to bail in the second round when he got nailed by a huge right. He retreated to the cage and shot for a leg to slow the fight down. But then Radach seemed to let off the gas pedal just as Smith was completely vulnerable. According to MMA Junkie Radach broke his right hand in the opening round. Maybe that explains it.
The craziest moment of the fight came towards the end of the first when a Smith left dropped Radach to a knee with 1:35 left in the round. Radach quickly recovered and dropped Smith with a punch just 11 seconds later.
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