Carl Froch has slammed Liam Smith for “cheating the fans” in his defeat to Chris Eubank Jr.
Smith beat Eubank when the pair first fought in January and looked for more of the same on Saturday night in Manchester, but was unable to replicate that success.
Eubank was in charge from the first bell and dominated the rematch, dropping Smith in the fourth round and again in the tenth before the referee stepped in to wave it off.
Smith admitted after the fight that he was flat throughout and put that down to having to lose three stone to make the 160lbs limit. The 35-year-old suggested he felt forced to return from a back injury sooner than he would have liked in order to prevent the rematch from falling through.
Reflecting on the bout and Smith’s comprehensive defeat, Froch hit out at the Liverpudlian for going into the fight so drained, believing it made him “physically incapable” of challenging Eubank.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Chris Eubank’s performance and I don’t want to write off Liam Smith too much, but Liam Smith was that bad,” Froch said.
“It transpired in the post-fight press conference that he took three stone off. Taking three stone off, 42 pounds in weight, being that drained going into the ring.
“Not only is it dangerous but it is also kind of conning the fans, cheating the fans and the public when you are there to put a performance on and actually you have got no chance of putting a performance on because you are physically incapable.
“That’s what it looked like from round one for me, he was on survival mode after the knockdown but before that he did nothing.”
