Fans may have heard or read the news: Chris Eubank Junior, who entered his recent fight with British rival Liam Smith whilst armed with a rematch clause, has activated it. The 33-year-old let it be known via a message on social media earlier today. Already, there is talk of the return fight taking place at Anfield, which would, of course, be very acceptable to Liverpool’s Smith.
But do the fans really want to see this rematch? Usually, whenever a return fight is one fight fans are eager to see, it’s because the first fight was either a thriller or it was a fight that had a controversial ending or result. Despite Eubank Jr for a time (and maybe still) trying to tell us that an errant Smith elbow was the reason for his fourth round stoppage defeat, this particular rematch does not fall into either category.
Smith won, in brutal fashion, Eubank not knowing where he was after the finishing blows had landed. And that was that. It is tough to get excited about this rematch, and indeed, every single expert (aside from Eubank’s promoter, Kalle Sauerland) that had been asked about how a sequel between Smith and Eubank would go said it would be another Smith win (maybe you can find an expert who says differently?).
Eubank, still showing his cocky side despite having been humbled last month, sent Smith a tweet that reads as follows:
“This morning, I activated the rematch clause via my lawyers & sent to my promoters @Wasserman Happy Valentine’s Day @LiamBeefySmith.”
While Sauerland was/is doing his best to talk up his fighter’s chances in the rematch.
“Chris was a round up on my card,” the promoter said. “He just came off a very good third round. The first round, he probably just edged. The second round was Liam, the third round was Chris,’ a very clear round, and then he caught one. It happens. That’s boxing. Can he do it again? I’d like to see that. A lot of people would like to see that.”
That remains to be seen. The first fight was a pay-per-view offering, and even with the first fight seen as a 50-50 affair, some fans grumbled that it should not have been PPV. If the rematch is also PPV, will the fans fork out for it?
It just seems Smith, 33-3-1(20) has all the tools needed to defeat Eubank Jr, 32-3(23), a second time.
Agree or disagree?
The working date for the rematch is sometime in late May.
