British boxing’s first significant fight of the year, between Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith in Manchester on Saturday night, is a superior matchup to the controversial and postponed bout which cast such deep shadows over a troubled sport last October. Three months ago, Eubank Jr was meant to face Conor Benn in a heavily hyped catchweight promotion built on the enmity between their fathers over 30 years ago.
Eubank Jr is a middleweight, who has also campaigned relatively successfully at super-middle (168lb), while Benn is a welterweight (147lb). The difference in size meant that the fight should never have been agreed, even at a compromised weight of 157lb, but money always wipes away good sense and intelligent competition in boxing. After the staggering amount of attention generated in the buildup there was, in the end, only disappointment and outrage at the way in which the promoters had tried to press ahead with the fight despite the fact that Benn tested positive for clomiphene, a performance-enhancing drug that can boost testosterone levels in men.
The aftermath has been severely damaging for boxing, especially as it then emerged that Benn had failed an earlier drugs test for clomiphene. Benn, backed by his promoter Eddie Hearn, set about finding “proof” that he was innocent and this week he claimed that “science” had exonerated him and the “evidence doesn’t lie”. Yet it is hard to find anyone, outside of the Benn and Hearn camp, who seriously believes both his test results were contaminated.
Against this dismal backdrop, Eubank Jr chose to accept a much more difficult challenge in fighting Smith. While he is still the bigger man, for Smith has fought mostly at super-welterweight, one division lighter than Saturday’s middleweight contest, Eubank Jr knows that his opponent is a tough and seasoned pro who has operated in the paid ranks since 2008. Smith has lost three of his 36 fights but he has been a world champion and also traded punches with the formidable Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez who stopped him in nine rounds in 2016. He makes Benn seem like an untested, and now tainted, prospect in comparison.
Eubank Jr, at 33, is a year younger than Smith and he has also fallen short on two occasions – losing to Billy Joe Saunders and George Groves. He has, however, improved under a new trainer in Roy Jones Jr, the great former world champion, and Eubank will step into the ring as a marginal favourite. This still seems to resemble a 50-50 battle – but Eubank Jr believes he will eventually prove too big and too strong for Smith. But it would also not be too much of a surprise if Smith ekes out a narrow victory.
The evenly balanced nature of the bout, with both fighters having limitations at the very highest level, is intensified by the fact that defeat will be a grievous blow for the loser. “At this stage of my career I know I’ve got a lot to lose,” Smith concedes. “My fear is losing to somebody I should never lose to. And I feel I should never lose to Eubank Jr.”
An even more urgent statement is made by Eubank Jr: “If I don’t get the victory, my career is in dire, dire straits. It’s in jeopardy. Victory is the most important thing in my life at this moment.” He told me last week that this is a fight for the “purist” and, while it will be only Smith’s second middleweight bout scheduled for 12 rounds, Eubank Jr expects a gruelling scrap.
A potentially gripping domestic showdown should be seen by as large an audience as possible in an attempt to clear the acrid taste left by the Benn fiasco. But of course the machinations of boxing mean that, in an attempt to wring more money out of their longsuffering fans, it has become a pay-for-view offering. It might not deserve such status but, unlike the Benn v Eubank Jr scandal or last month’s appalling pay-per-view massacre which saw Tyson Fury bludgeon a hapless Derek Chisora for a third time, this is a genuine contest with plenty of needle.
There were depressing scenes at Thursday’s press conference when Smith resorted to a homophobic taunt to try to unsettle Eubank Jr. He apologised afterwards as did Eubank, who wore a rainbow armband for the weigh-in on Friday, for his own barbed response. It can only be hoped that the actual bout will produce all that remains good and decent about boxing – despite the embarrassment, greed and stupidity of recent events. They might not think much about such a lofty goal but Eubank Jr and Smith are fighting for the tarnished reputation of British boxing – as well their own intensely personal ambitions.
