Chris Eubank Jr believes being 'cornered' will make him dangerous while Liam Smith is adamant he'll 'do a number on him again!' when they rematch on Saturday live on Sky Sports Box Office; Smith knows he must end their rivalry once and for all to get the title shot he truly craves
Saturday 2 September 2023 16:46, UK
Liam Smith beat Chris Eubank Jr in January and beat him well.
Ultimately there could be no denying that the Liverpudlian badly hurt Eubank when he levelled him for the first time early on in their fourth round.
Without hesitation Smith struck him down for a second time and left the referee no choice but to wave the contest off.
Eubank didn't have his legs under him, he didn't have his wits about him. But he still had something. He was still trying to fight.
He staggered past the referee, trying to get to Smith, trying to lash out even if he could not fully command his limbs.
Nothing came of it at the time. But perhaps, even in defeat, Eubank showed something, a spark that he might just be able to rekindle for their second encounter.
Eubank had never been knocked down before. He got to see in stark terms how he'd respond. While he'd been unable to salvage his place in the contest, still, when all that was left was pure instinct, all he still wanted to do was fight.
The raw determination that he unearthed then he has to channel fully into his second fight with Smith on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
"I always knew that was in me. I just never had to show it in public. I'd been through it in the gyms my whole career, getting hurt with a shot, winded. Some guys they take a knee or they say: 'Listen, let me take a break'.
"I'm going to keep going.
"That was how I always was. I never wanted to quit, I never wanted to look for a way out. Let me see what you've got. Let me see how much I can take. You saw that side of me in fights with guys like [George] Groves, those 12-round fights where I don't let up."
Smith's victory in January was comprehensive. But Eubank believes he can find something still. That's why he pressed for this rematch.
"I guess if I was going to take any positives from that fight, it would be that. People know that I'm not fake, that I'm not a phoney, that I don't just give up when the going gets tough," he said.
"You put me in a hairy situation and I'm going to find a way out every which way I can, until the referee says no."
In Saturday's rematch he will have no other option. His boxing career is on a precipice and all he can do is fight his way out of it.
"I'm cornered. I'm in a corner. It's my own doing. I put myself in the corner. I didn't have to take this rematch. But it's principle. I can't let this guy get away with thinking that he's a better fighter than me and having other people think he's a better fighter than me," Eubank said.
"I can't let him get away with that. I could have taken other fights for more money, bigger names but I wanted to right this wrong. I don't want to move on. I don't want to let this guy slip away.
"I don't want him to go off into the sunset saying: 'Yeah, yeah, I beat Eubank'. We need to right that wrong. We need to get that getback before I can go on to these other guys."
Smith took Eubank to a dark place. He has a "new fear" now. Eubank wants to use that to help him overcome Smith and all his demons from their first fight.
"It's do or die. No other option. The objective is simple. Go out there and win by any means necessary within the rules of boxing. You have no other choice," he said.
"It gives you a new focus, a new determination that maybe wasn't there in the first fight, a new fear.
"The fear of losing twice. That's more of a fear than getting hurt or knocked out, getting cut, none of that compares to the thought of losing. So I'm a caged lion right now. Let me out.
"Liam has got a new confidence about him now," he added. " He's going to believe he can go out there and do the same thing. I have to combat that confidence, I have to shut that out and that's not going to be easy. That's what I have to do.
"I think it's going to be extremely tough."
Smith understands exactly how to undo Eubank Jr. He's demonstrated it and is determined now to end their rivalry once and for all.
That's something he would relish, especially after having to delay this rematch to recover from an injury.
"It's here now and it's one I'm looking forward to. I'm looking forward to being back in the ring," said Smith, a former WBO super-welterweight champion who stepped up to middleweight to fight Eubank.
"I'm looking forward to beating Chris again and then there's no more Smith-Eubank. I think once I do a number on him again then I put that rivalry to bed and we move on then to a different one."
A sequence of victories over Chris Eubank Jr would be the standout moment so far of Liam Smith's long boxing career. The biggest fight in the UK to date in 2023, it would be a key milestone for him.
"He's a big name himself," Smith said. "I feel me and Eubank's still the biggest fight in Britain that's been made and up till now is still the biggest fight to happen. We're going into September and it's the biggest fight that's happened [in Britain]. You struggle to see where we're going to pull a bigger fight than this from."
He has to win the contest to get what he wants - the chance to become a two-time world champion. A defeat, at the age of 35, would deny him that. A loss here, for Smith as well as Eubank, would be disastrous.
He does not want to contemplate retirement. "I've never once sat and thought: 'Right, time to have a think about a way out,'" he said. "I live a good life which is not really hard to see because of what I'm still doing.
"I'm on pay-per-view again, top of the bill, a 15-year career for me to still be there, it's not like I'm trying to chase one last payday. I'm not hanging about. That speaks for itself.
"I've been pro 15 years in October. It's a long time for me still to be there. Still at the top."
Only victory can propel him on to what he wants most of all, either to challenge for another world title or to take on one of the international sport's most high-profile stars. A rematch with Canelo Alvarez could become feasible, perhaps even a middleweight clash with Gennadiy Golovkin.
"He might have one last fight," Smith said of "GGG".
"That would be something else. Me to have the two greats of my era especially, Canelo and Golovkin, on my CV, it would be unbelievable.
"I just need to concentrate on Chris. I beat Chris again, I'm sitting in a good position."
Victory opens up a world of potential, while defeat could end it all. It makes both desperate to win. But on Saturday night, of course, only one can.
Liam Smith vs Chris Eubank Jr II is live on Sky Sports Box Office on Saturday. Book it now
