Boxing Challenge: Eubank earns redemption!

     Chris Eubank Jr. claimed for eight months that Liam Smith had just gotten lucky and hit him with a one-in-a-million punch from which he couldn't recover and he would reverse that loss when he received his contractually obligated rematch.

Most people, including myself, thought Eubank's once-sturdy chin had shown its first crack and Smith would repeat his win, even though I thought Eubank would last the distance in the rematch.

In boxing, the unforeseen often appears when least expected, which would mean that Eubank would dominate Smith, rarely get hit,  knock Smith down in the fourth and again in the tenth before the referee had finally had enough and ended the fight in Eubank's favor.

Eubank's performance was so complete that I don't see a need for a third fight because Smith looked so bad and downright decrepit that I'm not sure how you can sell it to even the British public, who often buy almost anything from an All-British clash.

Ironically, Smith may have been able to make a case for a third fight had the fight been stopped when he was knocked down in round four.

It could have been sellable for a third fight if a promoter could say "Both guys got caught early one time and we need a rubber match to settle the issue".

Instead, Smith was pummelled for ten rounds, shown next to nothing in his offense, and unless you really want to buy into Smith's excuse of a leg/ankle injury in camp (Smith did look very stiff and immobile to be fair) and try to make the argument a 100% Smith could win the third fight, it's going to be a very hard fight to sell to the public.

Eubank called out Conor Benn for their fight that never happened (not excited), Kell Brook (likely not competitive as Brook hasn't fought since his Feb. 2022 win over the even more faded Amir Khan), and Gennady Golovkin, who isn't likely to fight again, so those fights are either unlikely, unsellable, or unappetizing for Eubank.

As for Smith, unless his injury truly made a big difference, he looked like he aged ten years since his win eight months ago and looked so bad that if that is the best that he has, Smith should consider retirement. Still, I would understand if he wanted to fight another time to see if that was the case.

If Smith and his team decide to carry on, I would be very cautious in selecting his next opponent and make sure it's a lower-level opponent or at minimum, a fighter that isn't a big puncher.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 141 Pts (0)

Ramon Malpica: 128 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 96 Pts (0)