Liam Smith says he will beat John Thompson and claim world title
Wednesday 7 October 2015 09:04, UK
Liam Smith is confident he will become the first of the famous boxing brothers to claim world champion status.
Smith takes on America's John Thompson for the vacant WBO light-middleweight title in Manchester on Saturday night.
Eldest brother Paul failed in two world-title attempts against Arthur Abraham, Stephen will fight holder Jose Pedraza for the IBF super-featherweight strap and the youngest, Callum, is being tipped by many to be the best of the four - but unbeaten Liam (20-0-1-KO10) is ready to become the first world champion.
"Yes I am... 100 per cent!" he told Sky Sports.
"I'm expecting the best John Thompson, I'd be a fool to expect anything less. He's fighting for the world title so we're prepared for the best John Thompson.
What's going to happen is I beat John Thompson, so I'll be the first of us brothers to be a world champion.
"My preparation has gone brilliantly. My weight is down, I think we are going to leave no stone unturned, we're going into it having covered everything.
"What's going to happen is I beat John Thompson, so I'll be the first of us brothers to be a world champion."
The WBO belt has been left vacant following a dispute between former holder Demetrius Andrade and the governing body, with Michel Soro supposed to be the first person Smith would face to fight for a world title.
But international issues forced the Frenchman to pull out, leaving Thompson (17-1-KO6) to step in six weeks ago.
The American has never been in a 12-round fight before and although he lost to Frank Galarza with a second-round knockout last January, the Liverpool lad is still expecting the toughest fight of his own career at the Manchester Arena.
"It's a different fight but it's still a world-title fight," he said.
"I am expecting a tough fight but I have seen a lot of him.
"He won quite a decent tournament over in America which was obviously televised so there's bits of footage and we've done some homework - I've left that to Joe [Gallagher] and my management team - and they've seen enough of him to sort out the preparation right."
