Chris Eubank Jr will attempt to seek revenge after his loss to Liam Smith by activating his rematch clause to face the Scouser for the second time.
The son-of-a-legend was knocked out for the first time in his professional career in a shocking upset at the hands of Smith last month in Manchester. Smith started the fight brightly and Eubank Jr appeared to be finding his groove come the fourth round, but the fight was waved off when Eubank Jr failed to recover after being knocked down and pounced on by his rival.
Eubank Jr produced two excuses following his defeat and planned to appeal the loss after Smith landed an alleged 'illegal elbow', a claim that 'Beefy' laughed off. Three weeks on from the fight and Eubank Jr has now revealed he will activate his rematch clause in the hopes of levelling the scores with Smith.
"This morning I activated the rematch clause via my lawyers & sent to my promoters Wasserman Boxing. Happy Valentines Day Liam 'Beefy' Smith," he wrote on Twitter. The rivals engaged in a heated back and forth before the fight and Sky Sports were forced to apologise for a homophobic comment made by Smith at their press conference. Eubank Jr insisted that he was dominating the fight before being knocked out by "a once-in-a-lifetime shot".
"I felt like I could go on. I felt like I was aware of what was happening, but it was the referee's decision and I have to respect it. I felt like I was dominating the fight before that happened, so I think we've got an exciting opportunity, at some point in the future, to have that rematch," Eubank Jr said. "He caught me with a once-in-a-lifetime shot. I got up, I recovered, he put it on me again with a few more shots and the referee decided it was enough."
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Smith teased fights with Kell Brook and Gennady Golovkin after the win and advised Eubank Jr against pursuing a rematch, but admitted he wouldn't have been surprised if he did. The Scouser wants their second fight to take place at Anfield Stadium, the home of his beloved Liverpool FC, and his preferred weight of 157lb.
"No, but do I think he will? Yes," Smith Jr said of Eubank Jr's rematch hopes. "But then he's got to sit down because that is a big, big, big defeat for his pride, his ego, his career. To go back and see himself like that, stumbling around the ring, not knowing what's going on and still wanting to fight after it's been stopped.
