KEY POINTS:
New Zealand boxer Shane Cameron was put through the wringer by American Terry Smith, but came out on top to take last night's brutal heavyweight bout at Christchurch Town Hall.
Cameron took the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) Asia Pacific-Oriental title bout by a unanimous decision.
Smith hadn't been knocked out in 36 bouts, but came perilously close as Cameron battered him in the closing stages of the 12-round fight.
Nick named "The Troublemaker", Smith looked down and out after the sixth round, saved from a Cameron barrage of blows by the bell. Cameron punished Smith further with a seventh round knockdown, but the American again fought on until the bell and came back swinging in the eighth.
Smith kept battling away, punching strongly despite another knockdown in the 10th round, to cut "Mountain Warrior" Cameron above the left eye in the penultimate round.
Cameron's manager Ken Reinsfield said Smith was relentless and fully lived up to his expectation he would go the full distance.
"It was a tough fight, but Shane stuck to the game plan and proved he really is a warrior. He fought like a champion," Reinsfield told Maori TV afterwards.
The win follows Cameron's fifth-round knock-out victory over American Kevin Montiy in June.
- NZPA
