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Liam Smith-Michel Soro to meet for vacant WBO 154 title

Fighters Network
18
Aug
Liam Smith (R) on his way to a seventh-round TKO of David Ezequiel Romero in April 2015. Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images.

Liam Smith (R) on his way to a seventh-round TKO of David Ezequiel Romero in April 2015. Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images.

British contender Liam Smith will face Michel Soro for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title in Manchester, England, on Oct. 10.

The unbeaten Smith (20-0-1, 10 knockouts) is a former British and Commonwealth champion who aims to become the first, but not the last, world titleholder in a family stacked with professional fighters.

Older brother Paul recently fell short in two competitive decision losses to WBO super middleweight boss Arthur Abraham and Smith’s other siblings, Callum and Stephen, are also closing in on the top level within their respective weight divisions.

Soro (27-1-1, 17 KOs) appears to be the bigger puncher and also has an edge in experience. In 2012, the Frenchman lost a WBO title fight to Zaurbek Baysangurov but more recently derailed prospect Glen Tapia, after which he annexed the European junior middleweight title with a convincing eighth-round stoppage of Emanuele Blandamura.



The main event on Oct. 10 will be the rescheduled collision between Ireland’s WBO middleweight titleholder Andy Lee and England’s Billy Joe Saunders. Terry Flanagan will also make the first defense of his WBO lightweight championship against Diego Magdanelo.

Smith announced the Soro fight on his official Twitter account and the information was confirmed by U.K. subscription channel BoxNation.

 

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