Chris Eubank Jr fully got his revenge on Liam Smith today, but the fight was clearly not what any fan was hoping to see, as Smith seemed hobbled and immobile for the entire fight, unable to do much of anything or present any resistance.
Eubank (33-3, 24 KO) got the 10th round stoppage after referee Kevin Parker had seen enough of Smith (33-4-1, 20 KO) being unable to respond to Eubank flurries, even if they weren’t coming with a ton of clean shots landing.
The official time of the TKO was 1:45 of round 10. At the time of the stoppage, Bad Left Hook had Eubank up 90-80, as he had a fourth round knockdown for a 10-8 round.
It was clear fairly early to anyone watching that Smith, 35, was having an issue with at least one leg, looking stiff and unsteady. The Sky Sports commentary got around to really talking about it in the seventh round.
In reality, this fight closely resembled the Bellew vs Haye rematch from 2018, where Haye came in clearly not in fighting shape and was stopped in the fifth round. Like that one, this was a pay-per-view, and you may take that into account when wondering why the commentary didn’t seem to want to acknowledge that one of the fighters clearly was not near 100 percent.
For the entire fight, Smith really had nothing coming back for the 33-year-old Eubank. Eubank seemed to read it well and early. He would always tie Smith up quickly when the two actually got close, taking away the one and only bit of real estate where Smith had any change to land anything at all.
“It had to be (revenge). I had no other choice. There’s too many other big fights out there for me that the fans want to see, that I want to be involved in,” Eubank said. “I had to beat Liam tonight. I threw so many punches the lettering on my shorts fell off, it’s incredible.
“But listen, Liam is a warrior. I respect him, I respect his whole team and his family, his brothers. They always come out, they always put it all on the line. He didn’t give up. He fought to the last second. So yeah, big up to Liam and his team.”
Asked why he was so much better tonight than in January, Eubank said, “I’m not going to lie. What happened tonight was supposed to happen in January, but it wasn’t my night. I trained hard for that fight, I trained hard for this fight. The focus is always there. I dedicate my life to this sport. Now we’re on to bigger and better things.”
Eubank called out Conor Benn and Kell Brook, and denied that he had a different preparation or mindset for this fight. “I had to prove to the fans that I am who I say I am. I’m not a pretender, I’m not a fake. I do the things I say I’m going to do.”
“Everything start to finish (went wrong). I was just flat from the start,” he said. “I think the weight killed me a little bit after the injury. I was just flat from the get-go, and Chris was sharp. That’s it, that’s all I can say, really.”
“I couldn’t move my feet, and when I did, I rolled my ankle,” he said when asked about any injuries. “It’s just one of them things. Chris was the better man tonight. I shout when I win, I’ll take my defeat when I lose.”
