Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jr collided tonight at the Manchester Arena, in Manchester England. The rematch, landing on UK pay-per-view, between the British rivals came eight months on from the first encounter that saw Smith win by a fourth round knockout.
Eubank looked confident as he entered the ring, leaping over the top rope landing on his feet to show off a trademark combination to what felt like an away crowd. Smith came in business-like as ever, this time the favourite, in what sounded like a home crowd just 50 miles from his Liverpool home.
The first round started a tad ugly with the pair tying each other up for large parts of the round. A fairy even opening three minutes saw both do their best to assert their dominance.
Round two began with little action. However, Eubank had certainly settled considering how the last fight between the two ended. Smith was falling under the armpit of Eubank as he came forward. Smith was tucking up willing to take the few landing jabs off his opponent. With little coming from the Liverpudlian it was Eubank’s round. Smith was on the canvass on the bell, but the referee called it a slip.
Eubank started the third as the aggressor landing a good left hand followed seconds later by an uppercut to the body. Eubank landed multiple uppercuts to the guard of Smith with just over 60 seconds to play. A similar combination landed 30 seconds later, although his best work was hitting the guard of his opponent, the work rate and jab of the Brighton man had him picking up the early rounds.
He landed another good combination to start round four. Smith was down from an uppercut in the opening 30 seconds from another smart uppercut. Smith’s mouthguard conveniently fell out as the fight was about to resume. Eubank pounced on Smith a second after the recall, he was boxing with real dominance. Eubank landed another left to the head that appeared to hurt Smith. He was a shell of his former self in the first bout, finishing the round under attack on the ropes.
Eubank let rip at the beginning of the fifth. Smith underwent a serious assault on the ropes for the full opening 60 seconds. Smith was in trouble, but a lot of big shots missed. Smith's head was snapped back from another good jab as he came forward midway through the round. Eubank closed out the round out behind the jab after using a vast amount of energy in the opening half of the three minutes.
Eubank started the sixth on the offence again. Smith was offering little-to-nothing in way of a threat. The pace had slowed but it was still Eubank who was the busier and more dominant, cleaning up the vast majority of the rounds at the halfway point of the fight. Eubank’s jab was coming into its own.
Round seven began with Eubank attacking the body of Smith, he was in a rhythm dealing with his opponent behind his jab with ease. A decent sharp body shot landed at the halfway point. Smith tried an attack that backfired to close the round.
It was Eubank’s fight to lose at this stage. Smith was looking leagues below his adversary as Eubank appeared to effortlessly box his way through rounds 8 and 9. It was a very measured and matured Eubank at this stage, who welcomed Brian ‘Bomac’ McIntyre to his corner just weeks before the fight.
Smith was getting a real pasting from the fresh faced Eubank, the tenth round saw no difference. Eubank landed a right hand that stumbled Smith, but the referee again called a slip. Eubank again let rip with two minutes to spare, landing multiple body shots that sent Smith to the canvass. Up on the 8 count, Eubank went on the hunt again. He has Smith pinned to the ropes letting loose a gluttony of shots that forced the referee to jump in with one minute and 12 seconds left in the round.
The win takes Eubank’s record 33-3 (24 KOs), Smith’s record moves to 33-4-1 (20 KOs).
