Chris Eubank Jr's team shouldn't appeal the loss to Liam Smith, says former world champion and boxing analyst Barry Jones: "It wasn't an elbow, it was a world-class finish"
Wednesday 1 February 2023 13:13, UK
Chris Eubank Jr's team told Sky Sports they were considering appealing to the British Boxing Board of Control about an elbow allegedly connecting when Liam Smith stopped their man in four rounds in Manchester. Former world champion Barry Jones, speaking on the Toe2Toe Podcast, has his say...
It's ludicrous. People on social media, they grab something and they go 'look at this!' When you slow things down, you can make anything look great or bad.
Paul Smith, who's Liam Smith's older brother, said if you've got the opportunity to hit somebody with a full-blooded left hook or an elbow, you're going to throw the left hook. A punch you've trained all your life to throw. By the way, the left hook is one of the best punches you can hit somebody with.
Or are you going to try and get the elbow right? There are so many more things that can go wrong with doing that.
It might have had an effect if he got caught with an elbow on the back of the head or cut him on the eye, it might cause that.
When Donald Curry beat Colin Jones in Birmingham (in 1985), Colin Jones had a massive cut across his nose. Donald Curry might have beaten him anyway. But the cut did it. Do we say that's a no contest because it's not fair? It's a horrible business. You can't appeal against that.
Who are you blaming? Who can you blame for that? Are you telling me he's doing that intentionally in the heat of a battle? He's good Liam Smith, he's not that good.
You're not going to think, 'I've got him hurt, I won't hit him with a left hook, I'll hit him with an elbow just in case.' It's rubbish.
It's irrelevant. He got stopped because he was beaten by a guy who was better than him on the night. It's pure and simple.
Chris has been brilliant. He never complains, it seems. And they haven't made a complaint yet.
The weight might be a factor. But it can't be an excuse. It might be a factor because that's how things are but it can't be an excuse because that was the weight they agreed.
They haven't asked him to boil down. Liam Smith said I'll box you at your weight. Whether Eubank struggled to make the weight or not, that's his choice.
It might be a real factor but it's not an excuse. And he hasn't used that excuse either.
What was impressive with Liam Smith was the accuracy. He didn't rush in too close, he kept the distance so he could see everything clearly.
I think that's something you learn about not getting your front foot too close to the target. Especially when you've got long arms, you'll smother your work and you won't get the vision of what's happening around you.
You sometimes don't need to see the opponent, you need to see a little bit around him just to be clear what's going on.
He could see that, whether Eubank was hurt or not, his balance was gone and he jumped right on him without getting too close to be able to be held on to.
Liam Smith was absolutely fantastic. It was a world class finish, that's what it was.
