Chris Eubank Jr is taking on Liam Smith, hoping to avenge his defeat earlier this year. Credit: Reuters/Andrew Mogridge
Chris Eubank Jr was beaten in the fourth round by Liam Smith in January and will face the Liverpool man in Manchester on Saturday, his career set to abyss if he loses a rematch against the former world welterweight champion weight.
< p>This week, Eubank called his first stoppage loss of his career a «miracle punch» from his now 33-year-old opponent, and as his world title quest slips away, British boxing legend Chris Eubank's son is proving to be simply the best in word and deed.
Eubank Jr. promised a «sophisticated and uncanny» victory over the gritty and tenacious Smith (himself 35), and for this exciting fight, after two years with Hall of Famer American boxer Roy Jones Jr., he changed trainer to Brian McIntyre. McIntyre oversaw the rise of welterweight king Terence Crawford to his status as the widely recognized No. 1 boxer on the planet in the weight class. Jr changed coach to Brian McIntyre, aka BoMack. Photo: Getty Images/Matt McNulty
McIntyre, known as «BoMack», was camped with Eubank in Las Vegas, where the Brighton-raised fighter has a penchant for poker and also loves the gyms and sparring partners that Sin City always has to offer. The pair seemed to bond well, with even Jones Jr giving his advice: Eubank should face Smith in the center rather than box and move like he did in the first fight until the fateful fourth stanza. Eubank uncharacteristically lost this round and explained the reasons for his poor performance.
Eubank watched that first fight with Smith, analyzed what went wrong, and thought — and believes that he lost weight poorly and was careless. Deeply aware that resurrecting his career requires a powerful statement, Eubank told The Daily Telegraph: “He will have the same mindset as I had in the first fight: he will be extremely confident in winning. But I am absolutely sure that I will go out and win.”
He added: “Of course I watched it. Before that fight, I definitely lost weight for the first time in my career, it won't happen again, but I don't explain the loss with that. I dominated, I won the fight, I was comfortable for the first three rounds, he did not touch me, and I think I calmed down. It was a mistake. I gave him the opportunity to do what he did, so it's boxing 101 — always defend yourself. I didn't, I paid the price and learned from that mistake. It will never happen again.»
Eubank Jr.'s January match ended badly for Smith. Photo: PA/Nick PottsEubank exudes confidence, as always, something in the DNA of the Eubank name. However, Smith was just as determined in preparing this week for the rematch to be a rematch rather than a rematch. Eubank responds to this, convinced that he still—surprisingly—has the upper hand when the first bell rings.
“For sure he will have confidence that he didn’t have in the first fight. But there is a difference between saying it and truly believing it. Now he can believe it because he defeated me, so it will be interesting to see how this will affect the fight once the bell rings.”
A happy fighter, a determined fighter, and signs that the camp went well. “I will never have a training camp in Brighton again, it was terrible, literally terrible, considering the last camp I did for Liam. Cold gyms, having to go out and run in the cold, having to wear six layers of clothing is brutal, Nevada has the sun, and it's just the best environment for morale.»
McIntyre, he insisted in an interview with Telegraph Sport, is a shrewd tactician and strategist who has brought new rigor and energy. “Now I have a brand new team, Coach BoMack, the stars kind of aligned and they all trained and fought in Vegas [for the Crawford vs. Errol Spence world title].
“We called before the fight and said that as soon as the fight was over, we would get to work, and that is exactly what we did. We were in the gym together on the Monday after the fight and obviously watching Terence perform, I was very encouraged, these guys really know what they are doing, so yeah, I'm very excited to see what we can achieve. moving forward.”
If Eubank does avenge his defeat, there is still the potential for a multi-million dollar mega-fight with Conor Benn to fall through, the event was canceled last October when Benn tested positive for a banned drug. substance clomiphene.
“This fight will take place anyway, but Conor Benn has nothing to do with my desire to win this fight,” Eubank said. “I want to win this fight because I want to win every fight. I know I'm a better fighter than Smith and it upsets me that people think or say otherwise, so I have to fix it.
“Now they have an argument that Smith is the best fighter, the best fighter, they have an argument because he beat me, so I have to remove this argument. If he does it again then there will be no argument, just the fact that he is the best person and I can't live with it so I need to make sure I go there and do what I know I can do.» .
It's an exciting rematch where Eubank has to make all the adjustments and come out with higher defense, hitting harder from the start and making his presence known. I expect a longer fight and more engagement from both, and while Eubank is bigger, Smith may have his number. Smith points or late stop.
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