Former super-middleweight world champion and IBHOF inductee Carl Froch has urged Liam Smith (33-4-1) to retire following his stoppage defeat to Chris Eubank Jr (33-3) last weekend at the Manchester Arena.
Chris Eubank Jr. claimed redemption against Smith following his fourth-round stoppage defeat to the Liverpudlian in January and displayed the most complete performance of his career to date. Eubank Jr would dominate the contest against Smith and secure knockdowns in rounds four and ten before referee Kevin Parker waved off the contest shortly after the knockdown in round ten.
Froch, speaking on his podcast, Froch On Fighting, praised his former sparring partner Eubank Jr., stating that his victory over Smith was the best win of his career.
“That was probably the best I have ever seen him against a really, really bad version of Liam Smith. I can’t take credit away from Chris Eubank Jr because he performed really well, but unfortunately for Smith, that could be the end of the road for him.”
Froch spoke of his surprise with Smith’s post-fight comments where the former WBO world super-welterweight champion admitted that he had struggled to make weight for the contest, which was set at the 160-lbs middleweight limit.
“I thought he was comfortable at 160. He obviously isn’t. He’s taken 42 lbs off, so he can’t go down to 154. He’s gonna have to stay in the middle, and he can’t go up to super middleweight. He’s not big enough. But in the middle, you’ve just seen what happened to him. He can’t do it. This could be career curtains. He’s had a fantastic career. He’s 35 years old, he got badly beaten because he couldn’t do the weight, so I think that could be the end.”
Smith insisted that his weight issues were down to training and managing ailments of the back injury he had sustained, which delayed the original rematch date of July 1st.
Froch would ultimately be less polite regarding Smith when Froch was speaking to Talksport, insisting that Smith’s career is now ‘over.’
“I think Liam Smith looks shot and finished at 35 years old. He can’t do 160 lbs; he’s 35 years old and had a career at 154 lbs, so if he can’t do 160, what’s he going to do? Step up to middleweight; well,Well he’s not big enough. So, for me, his career is over.”
