I think it's more appropriate to say that he outgrew that title, since it applies mainly to his heyday. Between winning the heavyweight title in '83 and meeting Aerts in '92, he was virtually undefeated and seriously raised the level of competition for heavyweights around the world. Even the Dutch fighters weren't in his league prior to Aerts.
Both absolute greats of Kickboxing. What a great era that was.
Dale Cook once called Maurice Smith the Muhammad Ali of kickboxing. He was very good, but no.
I think it's more appropriate to say that he outgrew that title, since it applies mainly to his heyday. Between winning the heavyweight title in '83 and meeting Aerts in '92, he was virtually undefeated and seriously raised the level of competition for heavyweights around the world. Even the Dutch fighters weren't in his league prior to Aerts.