Stephen Smith loses despite valiant effort against Jason Sosa whilst Martin Murray returned with victory over Nuhu Lawal
Martin Murray returned with a classy win whilst Stephen Smith could not recover from tough early set back
STEPHEN SMITH'S dreams of claiming the WBA super-featherweight title were shut down by a determined Jason Sosa.
Whilst Martin Murray returned from his summer defeat to George Groves by grinding out a victory against late stand-in Nuhu Lawal.
At the second time of asking Smith failed to win a world title after Sosa landed ferocious shots in the early rounds.
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Smith picked up a big cut over his eye at the end of the third round as Sosa took the upper hand in the bout.
In round four the doctor was called upon to examine Smith's eye which led to a response from the Brit as he hit Sosa with big shots of his own.
Smith managed to have more success in the latter stages of the fight and grew in confidence and stood toe to toe, which suited Sosa as both fighters courageously traded punches.
But despite Smith's valiant effort he was too far behind on the scorecard and needed a knockout to win the fight.
Smith's bravery was not enough as he suffered the third defeat of his career.
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Whilst Murray, who opened the event in Monte Carlo, had to deal with two late changes of opponent which left him facing undefeated Lawal.
First he was expecting a rematch with former two-weight world champion Arthur Abraham before Dmitry Chudinov replaced him due to injury.
