Why Chris Eubank Jr or Liam Smith should get career-best win

Barring a draw or No Contest, either brash son-of-a-legend Chris Eubank Jr or dogged Liverpudlian Liam Smith will emerge from their Manchester middleweight clash this Saturday with a career-best victory. Despite the celebrity status of Brighton’s Eubank and the WBO world title reign enjoyed by ‘Beefy’ down at 154lbs, both men are arguable better known for the quality of fighters who have defeated them than those they have vanquished.

Smith’s time with the WBO strap was marked by unsung, overmatched challengers until he ran into Canelo in 2016. Smith proved brave and determined in Texas, but the fit, skilful champion was cut, beaten up and ultimately undone by a body-puncher of even greater prowess than he.

Three wins later – two of which came over Liam Williams, an opponent he has in common with Eubank Jr, Smith challenged for his old belt against Jaime Munguia. Liam was more competitive against another strong Mexican this time around, but could not match the younger Munguia’s strength or workrate. Munguia dropped Smith en route to a clear decision and is still unbeaten.

Given that his only other official defeat, against Magomed Kurbanov in 2021, is widely regarded as a robbery, Smith can claim to have only legitimately lost at the top level, but his best win is either Williams the second time or Jessie Vargas last year. Upsetting the bigger Eubank at 160lbs would surely trump those.

Similarly, Eubank Jr has only been beaten by talented world champions, whether reigning or future, in Billy Joe Saunders and George Groves. Junior still disputes the split Saunders verdict, and rarely discusses the unanimous one against Groves.

I was ringside for the Saunders fight, as the two young talents heated up a freezing Excel Arena in 2014 before Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora unfortunately brought us right back down. An absorbing and exciting duel proved very much a game of two halves. Quality amateur Saunders opened a big early lead, outboxing and outmanuevring his less technical foe, before Eubank’s relentless pressure and southpaw Saunders’ depleted gas-tank combined to significantly reduce the margin down the stretch. That Saunders went on to become a two-weight world champion does not appear to have softened the blow for Chris.

It was just over three years later when Eubank Jr, by then plying his trade at 168lbs, crossed paths with Groves in the semi-finals of the World Boxing Super Series. Chris was coming off a highlight-reel KO of Avni Yildirim in hostile Stuttgart, but could do little with the bigger, rangier Groves, until the final round where, with George suffering a shoulder injury, Eubank’s bludgeoning blows finally began to connect consistently. It was of course too little, too late, although the official judges’ scores were much closer than my own; Groves had seemingly controlled the fight behind an excellent jab.

Defeats out of the way, who is Eubank Jr’s best win? Williams, who was coming off a punishing loss to Demetrius Andrade? Arthur Abraham, a former two-weight world champion but at the tail-end of his career and who fought just once more before retiring? On pure ability it has to be former amateur standout Matvey Korobov, but that win in 2019 came via shoulder injury after just two rounds and the Russian has never matched his unpaid accomplishments as a pro.

Triumphing over an on-form, motivated Smith would surpass those in my opinion. Now we just need to find out which of the headliners leaves Manchester Arena with the finest victory of their career.