| Date | 24 February 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Arena Nürnberger Versicherung, Nürnberg, Bavaria, Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Smith defeated Holzken by Unanimous Decision | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Callum Smith vs. Nieky Holzken was a professional boxing match contested on 24 February 2018. [1]
On 27 October 2017, 39 year old former world champion Jürgen Brähmer (49–3, 35 KOs) defeated American boxer Robert Brant to advance to the semi-finals against Callum Smith, who had defeated Erik Skoglund a month earlier, with the fight scheduled to take place in early 2018. [2] A couple days later, Smith spoke out stating he would like the fight to take place in his home city of Liverpool, however would be open to fighting anywhere else. [3] On 15 November, promoter Kalle Sauerland stated the fight could take place in Liverpool at the Echo Arena or Germany. [4]
Smith's trainer Joe Gallagher believed a fight in Germany would be unfair on Smith, due to Germany having gained a reputation for contentious decisions and home fighters receiving questionable wins. [5] He later went on to state the fight should take place on neutral ground, mentioning Monte Carlo, Dublin and Amsterdam as potential locations. [6]
On 11 January 2018, the fight was finally announced to take place at the Arena Nürnberger in Nuremberg, Germany on 24 February, a week after the first semi final between George Groves and Chris Eubank Jr.. [7] [8] [9]
On 20 February, four days before the fight, German website boxen1.com reported that Brähmer had withdrawn from the tournament after failing to overcome an illness he had been fighting for a week. Comosa stated the event would still go ahead with a replacement to be announced. [10] 34 year old Dutch kickboxer and boxer Nieky Holzken (13–0, 10 KOs), who was scheduled to fight on the undercard against Dmitry Chudinov, became the frontrunner to replace Brähmer. [11] [12] In a short statement, Brähmer stated he had a 'feverish infection' and apologised to his fans. Promoter Kalle Sauerland later confirmed that Holzken was the reserve fighter and would replace Brähmer and fight Smith. [13] [14]
Smith used his jab from the opening bell and managed to control the distance throughout the fight, also managing to land his right hand successfully on many occasions. Holzken was the faster and frequently more aggressive fighter, however Smith was far more busier in each round. Each round was the same with Smith standing straight up, jabbing constantly and throwing right hands.
After 12 rounds the three judges scored the fight 118–110, 117–111 and 117–111 in favour of Smith giving him a unanimous decision victory. [15]
In the post-fight, Smith stated, "He was tough but I landed a lot jabs and my hand hurts a little bit. He was awkward, novicey but I'm not engaging in a shoot-out. I'm the better boxer." [16] [17] George Groves faced off with Smith immediately after the interviews took place. [18] [19]
Confirmed bouts: [20]
Avetik Abrahamyan, best known as Arthur Abraham, is an Armenian-German former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF middleweight title from 2005 to 2009, and the WBO super-middleweight title twice between 2012 and 2016.
Wilfried Sauerland is a German boxing promoter and manager. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010.
Christopher Livingstone Eubank Jr. is a British professional boxer. He has held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight title since October 2024. Previously, he held the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2021. He also held the (IBO) super-middleweight title twice between 2017 and 2019. At regional level, he held the British middleweight title in 2016. He is the son of former two-division world champion boxer, Chris Eubank.
Nicolaas Hubertus Holzken is a Dutch kickboxer and professional boxer currently signed to ONE Championship, where he competes in the Lightweight division. He is the former Glory Welterweight Champion. In 2018, Holzken participated in the World Boxing Super Series as a substitute.
Jürgen Brähmer is a German professional boxer, who held the WBO title from 2009 to 2011, and the WBA (Regular) title from 2013 to 2016.
George Groves is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2018. He held the WBA (Super) super-middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. At regional level, he held multiple super-middleweight titles, including the European, British, and Commonwealth titles between 2010 and 2014. As an amateur, Groves won the ABA middleweight title twice in 2007 and 2008.
Robert Brant is an American professional boxer who held the WBA (Regular) middleweight title from 2018 to 2019.
Anthony Yigit is a Swedish professional boxer who challenged for the IBF light welterweight title in 2018. As an amateur, following his success in 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships, Yigit qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Callum John Smith is an English professional boxer. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) and Ring magazine super-middleweight titles from 2018 to 2020. At regional level, he held the British and European super-middleweight titles between 2015 and 2017. In 2018 he won the World Boxing Super Series super-middleweight tournament, winning the Muhammad Ali trophy in the process. He is the youngest of the Smith brothers—Paul, Stephen, and Liam—all of whom are professional boxers.
Mairis Briedis is a Latvian former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2024. He was a three-time cruiserweight world champion, having held the IBF and Ring titles from 2020 to 2022; the WBC title from 2017 to 2018; and the WBO title in 2019. Upon winning the WBC title in 2017, he became the first Latvian to hold a world boxing title. He was awarded the Order of the Three Stars in 2017.
Erik Skoglund is a Swedish professional boxer.
The 2017–18 World Boxing Super Series – super middleweight division was a World Boxing Super Series professional boxing tournament taking place between September 2017 and September 2018 in several countries. The Super Series features 8 top-rated super middleweight boxers in a single-elimination tournament. Its winner will hold the WBA's world title, The Ring Magazine title, as well as the Muhammad Ali trophy. The tournament was organized by Comosa AG. A cruiserweight tournament is held concurrently, with prize money for both competitions totalling US$50 million.
Callum Smith vs. Erik Skoglund was a professional boxing match contested on 16 September 2017.
Chris Eubank Jr vs. Avni Yildirim was a professional boxing match contested on 7 October 2017, for the IBO super middleweight championship. The bout was also a WBC super middleweight title eliminator.
George Groves vs. Jamie Cox was a professional boxing match contested on 14 October 2017, for the WBA super middleweight championship.
Jürgen Brähmer vs. Robert Brant was a professional boxing match contested on 27 October 2017.
George Groves vs. Chris Eubank Jr. was a professional boxing match contested on 17 February 2018, for the WBA Super Middleweight championship.
George Groves vs. Callum Smith was a professional boxing match contested on 28 September 2018, for the WBA and The Ring Super Middleweight championship.
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Mairis Briedis was a professional boxing match contested on 27 January 2018, for the WBC and WBO cruiserweight championship.
Karl-Robin Sauerland is an Anglo-German boxing promoter and the Global Head of Boxing at Wasserman. Sauerland has been the promoter for many British boxers including David Haye, Chris Eubank Jr and Derek Chisora.
