Britain’s Stephen Smith recently notched his fourth defeat as a professional boxer, losing to Francisco Vargas in Las Vegas on a technical decision.
If the heartache of being on the losing side wasn’t bad enough the Liverpudlian also suffered a nasty ear injury during the bout.
We decided to look back at five of the most horrific boxing injuries over the years:
Hasim Rahman v Evander Holyfield (June 2002)
After shocking the world by stopping Lennox Lewis with one punch Hasim Rahman was soon brought crashing back to earth as he was knocked out in the fourth round during the rematch.
Still harbouring ambitions of becoming a world champion the Maryland fighter chose to take on a former champion in Holyfield. Rahman soon found out about Holyfield’s dirty tactics the hard way as he sustained a lump the size of a baseball on his forehead.
Holyfield subsequently honed in on the extreme protrusion and eventually the ringside doctor decided he had seen enough.
Arthur Abraham v Edison Miranda (September 2006)
Former IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham has long been regarded as one of the toughest fighters in the division.
A shining example of this reputation would come during his bout with Colombia’s Edison Miranda, in which Abraham broke his jaw in two places after just four rounds.
Despite receiving a barrage of blows in one particular area Abraham miraculously lasted the entire fight and even went on to win the match - After the contest the Armenian boxer needed 22 screws to help fix his jaw.
Evander Holyfield v Mike Tyson II (June 1997)
Perhaps one of the most controversial moments in the history of boxing was when Mike Tyson decided to take a chunk out of Evander Holyfield’s ear during their rematch.
The latter had been victorious just six months earlier and when the two met once more Tyson showed his frustration at not being able to hurt the then WBA heavyweight champion.
Not interested in a clean fight Tyson then decided to level things out by chewing through Holyfield’s other ear at which point the referee disqualified the New York boxer.
Lennox Lewis v Vitali Klitschko (June 2003)
Vitali Klitschko was keen to re-establish himself as one of the leading lights in the heavyweight division after a disappointing first professional defeat against Chris Byrd and decided Lennox Lewis would be the ideal opponent.
In what proved to a bruising battle it was Klitschko who would come out worse, as he sustained a gaping cut underneath his left eye.
Sensing his opponent was on the ropes Lewis continued to work away at the cut eventually prompting the doctor the stop the bout in the sixth round.
Sebastian Lujan v Antonio Margarito (February 2005)
Many had long suspected there was something not quite right about Antonio Margarito’s hand wraps and the truth eventually came out ahead of his world title clash with Shane Mosley.
A clash with Argentina’s Sebastian Lujan some years before offered a telling indication as to why many suspected Margarito had been benefitting from illegal hand wraps.
During the meeting between the two Lujan was lucky to leave the match with both ears still attached to his head although one of them was hanging by a thread such was the power behind Margarito’s shots.
