Howard 'Kayo' Smith ~ "Good Fighter - Bad Breaks"

[Bill Paxtom]

Saturday ~ January 15, 1977

The Aladdin ~ Las Vegas, Nevada

Howard Smith Floored, But Pounds Out Decision Over Henry Clark ~

In a very strange bout, which saw the original Referee suffer a seizure in the 1st-Round,
causing a re-start of the bout. Howard Smith then scored a solid 10-Round Decision over
veteran Henry Clark.

In the initial start, Howard Smith and Henry Clark both measured each other during the first
minute of Round 1, when suddenly Referee - Ferd Hernandez suffered a seizure {epileptic fit}
in the Ring.

The bout was halted, as Mr. Hernandez was attended to by the Ringside Physician and
emergency personal from the Aladdin Hotel.

A break period of 15-Minutes was taken, to allow for the fighters to re-group. A replacement
Referee {Richard Greene} was brought in, and the fight was to re-start as a new bout.

Re-start >

At the Bell, Henry Clark {236 lbs.} bolted quickly from his corner in an effort to catch
Howard Smith {203 lbs.} cold and off-guard.

Clark landed a grazing right-hand and a slapping left-hand to the head on an off-balance
Smith, sending the California Heavyweight backwards.

Clark then swarmed in, and used his shoulder to bull Smith into the Corner. Henry then
landed a variety of punches on Smith for the first 20-Seconds as he was 'pinned' in his
own Corner.

Smith then tried to counter-back, but was caught by a Clark right-hand to the jaw, and Smith
dropped to the canvas at the {0:28 Mark}.

Smith was up at the '1-Count', and was clear-eyed and looked fine.

After the Mandatory '8-Count', Clark moved in and continued to take advantage of his size and
bulled Smith into he Ropes where he landed slapping punches as Smith covered up.

Clark kept Smith 'pinned' on the Ropes for the rest of Round 1.

In Round 2, Clark again stayed on top of Smith, and used wide slapping punches to smother
Smith who was driven backwards, where he stayed on the Ropes throughout most of
Round 2.