Liam Smith went overboard with his trash-talking during today’s final press conference, making homophobic remarks about Chris Eubank Jr ahead of Saturday’s clash at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Unable to match the verbal eloquence of Eubank Jr (32-2, 23 KOs), an angry-looking Smith (32-3-1, 19 KOs) went for the throat, implying that Chris was secretly gay by asking him and the audience if they’d ever seen him with any girls.
Showing his class & dignity, Eubank Jr elected to take the high road, choosing not to get personal with Smith in the same way.
With Smith taking what had been a relatively peaceful final press conference into the mud, Eubank Jr kept his cool, pointing out that he’d heard that he cheats on his wife. Eubank Jr said he’d prefer to be gay than to cheat on his spouse.
Liam Smith: “You go on about girls? Has anybody in this room ever seen you with a girl? You got something to tell us?”
Chris Eubank Jr: “If you want to get personal, talking about being gay? I’ve been told you cheat on your wife. I’d rather be gay than a cheat.”
To see Smith taking the conversation to this level was necessary because he should have stayed professional and focused on the fight ahead of him on Saturday rather than making homophobic remarks about Eubank Jr.
Smith has got his work cut out for him on Saturday night because he’s not a natural middleweight, and he’s outsized, outgunned, and outclassed by Eubank Jr on paper.
While some boxing fans believe that the 34-year-old Liam has a chance of winning, if you saw his recent performances against Jessie Vargas and Magomed Kurbanov, he has zero shot of beating Eubank Jr. The only real question is how one-sided it’ll be.
Eubank Jr should be fighting quality middleweights rather than picking an aging former paper champion from the 154-lb division in Liam Smith. It’s good that the UK fans believe the Eubank Jr vs. Smith fight will be competitive, but in reality, it probably won’t be. If you look at the recent performances of Eubank Jr and compare them to Smith’s, this fight won’t be competitive.
Smith would likely lose badly to Eubank Jr’s last opponent Liam Williams if he were to face him now at this career stage.
