In a shocking boxing upset, former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam “Beefy Smith (33-3-1, 20 KOs) knocked out odds favorite Chris Eubank Jr. (32-3, 23 KOs) in the fourth round of their 12-round middleweight main event on Saturday night at the AO Arena in Manchester, England.
The fight which was broadcast by DAZN in the United States and promoted by BOXXER and Wasserman Boxing was supposed to be a showcase fight for Eubank Jr. who wanted to stay busy after his bout with Conor Benn fell through due to Benn failing drug tests ahead of their clash.
During the pre-fight build up, Eubank Jr. and his team downplayed Liam Smith, they almost treated him as a non threat with trainer Roy Jones Jr. saying they train for guys like Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez and were looking ahead to possible fights with those bigger names.
The disregard and lack of respect likely motivated Smith even more, he was baffled by Eubank Jr. and his team treating him like a walk over especially since he is a former world champion and Eubank Jr. has yet to taste championship gold.
The fight was close and competitive in the first three rounds, and Smith didn’t look like he was going to be a cakewalk, he came to fight and Eubank Jr. didn’t take him seriously as it showed in the fourth round when Smith dropped Eubank Jr. with an uppercut and left hook combo. Eubank Jr. got up but he was on shaky legs and Smith refused to show mercy and attacked a wobbly Eubank Jr. sending him to canvas again, the ref saw enough and stopped the fight. Smith was declared the winner by TKO.
Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Liam Smith Full Fight Video Replay Highlights
Video upload by DAZN Boxing
