Author: djblaze

Middleweight Throwdown

Tonight’s Sky Sports/Boxxer Main Event between Chris Eubank Jr. (32-3, 23 Kos) and Liam Smith (33-3-1, 20 Kos) at the Manchester Lancaster, UK was a proper domestic showdown that shocked the fans in attendance and the world watching. Real Talk!

Former WBO Light Middleweight Champion Liam moved up in weight to challenge the former WBA Interim Middleweight Champion Eubank Jr. at the full Middleweight Division and asserted himself quite well at the new weight and stood his ground going toe-to-toe with the naturally bigger man inside that squared circle.

While Eubank used a nice stiff jab from the jump to keep Liam at bay, Smith kept coming forward never deterred in applying as much pressure as he could round by round.

Both combatants had their moments looking very active with their hands but in the third round, it looked like Eubank was about to take the lead until the unexpected happened throughout the fourth round when Liam backed Eubank to the corner and teed off on him with a series of accurate punches that dropped Eubank for the first time in his career. Although Eubank did get up, he clearly had no legs or the sense to survive the round. Seeing Eubank visibly hurt, Liam wasted no time at putting Eubank out of his misery by seizing the moment and dropping him to the canvas one more time prompting the referee to stop the bout at 1:09 of round four. Unbelievable!

No disrespect to Liam who is a good fighter, I never anticipated this type of finish by his hands. Liam flattened Eubank who was said to be the bigger and stronger fighter of the two in such a devastating fashion never seen before by any of his previous opponents. This is the type of finish that has you rethinking what the hell went wrong.

The build-up to this bout had a lot of heat from both sides but it was Liam who walked it like he talked it and stole the show in the blink of an eye.

This bout was a great domestic win for Liam but it was also the type of win that will bring up even greater opportunities ahead in the 154- or 160-pound Division.

Congratulations Liam, you walked inside that squared circle the underdog but walked out the “Top Dog” of the night. Well done!

Blaze