Eubank Jr dominates Smith in one-sided rematch to avenge shock defeat
‘Next Gen’ produced a boxing masterclass at Manchester’s AO Arena on Saturday evening, supplying two knockdowns en path to an outstanding and hopelessly one-sided Tenth-round stoppage win.
It was candy revenge for Eubank Jr, who had admitted that “everything was on the line” after he suffered a shock fourth-round knockout loss by the hands of Smith on the similar venue again in January.
It stays to be seen if a trilogy struggle shall be pursued, with the heated rivals now stage at one victory apiece.
“It had to be [revenge], I had no other choice,” Eubank Jr stated after a comeback triumph that moved him to 33-3, earlier than calling out the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Conor Benn and Kell Brook.
“There are too many other big fights out there for me that the fans want to see, that I want to be involved in.
“I had to beat Liam tonight. I threw so many punches that the lettering on my shorts fell off. It’s incredible. Liam is a warrior, I respect him and I respect his whole team and his family and his brothers.
“They always come out and they always put it all on the line. He didn’t give up and he fought to the last second. Big up to Liam and his team.”
Smith falls to 33-4, having bemoaned his wrestle to chop a variety of weight successfully after a again damage that triggered the rematch to be delayed twice. His mobility additionally appeared to be restricted on the evening after he appeared to roll each of his ankles early on, although he didn’t use that as an excuse for such a galling loss.
“I was just flat from the start,” Smith stated. “I think the weight killed me a little bit after the injury. I was just flat from the get-go and Chris was sharp.
“I couldn’t move my feet and when I did I rolled my ankle. But I’ve got dodgy ankles anyway haven’t I, it’s just one of those things. Chris was the better man tonight. I shout when I win, I’ll take my defeat when I lose.”
On Saturday’s undercard, thrilling Berkshire expertise Adam Azim moved to 9-0 as he comfortably outpointed skilled Ukrainian opponent Aram Fanyan.
Dave Allen retired with a perforated eardrum after the sixth spherical of his heavyweight contest in opposition to Frazer Clarke, who had been crusing near the wind after having two factors deducted in fast succession for repeated low blows.
Jack Cullen turned the brand new British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion after stopping Mark Heffron on the finish of the third spherical in a neighborhood battle between two former coaching companions.
Former ladies’s unified super-featherweight world champion Mikaela Mayer arrange a possible showdown with Natasha Jonas subsequent by rising in weight once more and comfortably outpointing Italy’s Silvia Bortot.
Unbeaten Albanian welterweight Florian Marku wanted simply 54 seconds to demolish Irish opponent Dylan Moran, whereas Olympic gold medalist Lauren Price received once more after opponent Lolita Muzeya sustained a nasty reduce above her eye following an unintentional conflict of heads.
There was some good news for Team Smith straight out of the gate as in style younger Liverpool fighter Frankie Stringer overcame Engel Gomez.