Liam Smith wasn’t surprised that he defeated Chris Eubank Jr. in their first meeting last January. The Liverpudlian is confident going into every fight.
There was one thing he didn’t expect, though: The ease with which he was able to put Eubank away. Smith put him down twice and stopped him in the fourth round of a scheduled 12-rounder.
And Smith seems to relish the opportunities to remind Eubank of that going into their rematch Saturday at AO Arena in Manchester, England, the site of the original fight.
“You didn’t know what day it was when you got stopped,” he said on a media conference call that included both men, according to Fight Hub TV.
Eubank (32-3, 23 KOs) had performed well for three-plus rounds when Smith (33-3-1, 20 KOs) stunned him with a right hand and followed with several more damaging blows, putting him down and hurting him badly.
He was able to stagger to his feet and continued for a moment but he went down again under a barrage of punches, prompting referee Victor Loughlin to stop the fight.
“I was shocked how easy he falls,” Smith said. “I touched him once and he was like Bambi on ice. I was shocked how much he folded off one right hand, left uppercut, left hook.”
Eubank blamed the loss on complacency. He said that he let his guard down because he believed he was in firm control of the fight until the final moments.
And, of course, he promised to correct his mistake and turn the tables on his rival.
Smith, bursting with confidence, scoffed at that notion. He believes he has Eubank’s number.
“He makes too many mistakes,” Smith said. “… I’ll punish him.”
