Middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. (35-3, 25 KOs) started slow but came on from the fourth round on, dominating the last nine rounds to defeat Conor Benn (23-1, 14 KOs) on Saturday night in their grudge match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
The scores were 116-112, 116-112, and 116-112.
The volume punching from Eubank Jr. was the key to him winning, as he changed tactics after three rounds and took control. If Eubank Jr. had more youth and power, he’d have stopped Benn because he had him hurt in the last two rounds.
“I don’t see Chris Eubank winning that fight by four rounds,” said Eddie Hearn. “I think he could have won the fight. it was razor-thin. It was one of the most dramatic fights I’ve seen.”
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In their trilogy fight, light heavyweight Anthony Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) defeated Lyndon Arthur (24-3, 16 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision. Yarde used his volume punching to get the better of Arthur. The fight, however, lacked drama and was not worthy of the co-feature. The judges’ scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 116-112
In a sick mismatch, Aaron McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs) defeated Liam Smith (33-5-1, 20 KOs) in 12 one-sided rounds to win a unanimous decision. Smith, 36, was down from a hard bodyshot from McKenna in the twelfth round.
McKenna landed a perfectly placed left to the body as Liam was coming forward, sending him down on the canvas. He got up at the count of seven and bravely fought back hard for the remainder of the round. The judges ‘ scores were 119-108, 117-109, and 118-108.
The former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith looked like he had lost a lot of the power, timing, and speed that he had in the prime of his career in 2015. Tonight, he was a punching bag, taking a terrible beating from the much younger 25-year-old McKenna. The only reason Liam wasn’t stopped is that McKenna can’t punch.
Still, the fight should have been halted by Smith’s team by the midpoint of the contest because he took a shellacking in there tonight. By the end of the fight, Smith’s face looked like a mess from the culmination of punches he’d absorbed. McKenna doesn’t have power, but he landed so many shots that it was hard to watch.
The wiry-looking Viddal Riley (13-0, 7 KOs) used his boxing skills to defeat British cruiserweight champion Cheavon Clarke (10-2, 7 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision. Riley, 27, hit and moved all night, staying away from the big-punching Clarke, and not letting him get his shots off.
The judges’ scores were 116-112, 117-111, and 115-113. In the 11th and 12th rounds, Clarke connected with some hard right hands to the head of Riley, but he took them well to survive the final two rounds. It wasn’t the most entertaining fight to watch, unfortunately. It should have been the first fight on the card rather than above the more exciting Billiam-Smith vs. Glanton bout.
Former WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billiam-Smith (21-2, 13 KOs) battled his way to a thought 12-round unanimous decision against pressure fighter Brandon Glanton (20-3, 13 KOs). Billiam-Smith was being pressed nonstop by Glanton, forced to fight in close most of the fight, and struggled to get leverage on his punches.
Glanton had a good game plan to take away Billiam-Smith’s power, but he wore down in the second half. That allowed Chris to take control of what appeared to be a close fight. The scores were 116-113, 116-112, and 116-112.
