Paul Smith is no longer fighting on brother Callum's undercard
Friday 1 April 2016 18:06, UK
Paul Smith has been forced to withdraw from his return to the ring due to sickness.
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The former super-middleweight world title challenger was due to fight a six-round bout on the undercard of his brother Callum's WBC title eliminator against Hadillah Mohoumadi on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 1 HD.
"Gutted I'm not fighting tomorrow," Smith posted on Twitter on Friday. "Both my kids & wife have had a viral infection for the last 10 days and I've got it myself. Got to be 100%."
I lost my last fight, I need to be no less than 100 percent and I'm not taking any chances regardless of opponent and venue.
When questioned if the confirmation of his withdrawal was an April Fool's joke, Smith tweeted: "I wish".
He told Sky Sports: "I Stayed in the hotel last night, woke up feeling terrible. I've felt it come on Wednesday and hoped I'd seen the worst, but today it's still the same.
"I lost my last fight, I need to be no less than 100 percent and I'm not taking any chances regardless of opponent and venue. I'm fighting again in four weeks on Ant Crolla's show and I'll be 100 per cent."
The Liverpool super-middleweight was set to fight for the first time since last June when he was stopped by Andre Ward. Previously, the 33-year-old had contested a pair of narrow decision defeats to WBO king Arthur Abraham.
Sky Sports pundit Smith was due to box Daniel Regi, a 35-year-old from Hungary with a 28-13 record, but will now wait for the undercard of Crolla's WBA lightweight title defence against Ismael Barroso.
Smith v Mohoumadi tops Saturday's busy bill in Liverpool, with Scott Cardle v Sean Dodd and Rocky Fielding v Christopher Rebrasse also shown on Sky Sports 1 from 8pm.
