Liam Smith believes that a win in good fashion over Aaron Mckenna this Saturday at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could land him the fight he craves.
That fight is a third encounter with the man who tops Saturday’s bill against Conor Benn – Chris Eubank Jnr. The pair have met twice before, with Smith stopping Eubank Jnr inside four rounds in the first fight in January 2023, whilst Eubank Jnr avenged his loss with a 10th round stoppage over Smith eight months later in September.
Smith did not look his usual self in the second contest against Eubank Jnr and afterwards revealed that he had been struggling with injuries throughout his preparations. Smith felt obliged to fight after already delaying the rematch from its original slated date in June.
It is nearing two years from Smith’s stoppage defeat to Eubank Jnr, but Smith still thinks about the events of that night.
“Yeah it bothers me, eats away at me, reading shite, seeing stuff, the way people dismiss you, forget about you,” Smith told BoxingScene. “Just the whole thing with Chris, I said it all along, Chris Eubank Jr. shouldn’t hold a win over me, never mind a stoppage win. I don't feel he's good enough to. I don't feel he punches hard enough to. Like I say, the way he beat me the second time, you can laugh all you want, but, I know the issues, and I know the reasons.
“But behind it, again, all this stuff, with the Conor Benn situation, ‘Now I'm stepping up two weights,’ and I stepped up to beat Chris Eubank Jr, and that was a 154 pounder, and I took a chance, I took a deal, that gave me Chris, and I beat Chris. The rematch, obviously, well stated, well documented, with my reasons on it, but, yeah, it's still eats away at me, especially because he wasn't really interested in a third fight.”
Smith has long called for Eubank Jnr to step in the ring with him to settle the score, afterall, it is one-a-piece between the two middleweight rivals. Smith believes Saturday’s fight could be the perfect opportunity to force Eubank Jnr into a trilogy.
“Yeah, I think he would [fight me] now because Turki Alalshikh is involved, and what he says kind of goes, and what he wants usually happens,” said Smith. “So, it's mostly down to me, I have to win and win in good fashion; you have to be involved in a good fight. I just think that's all [Alalshikh] is really interested in at the moment, the Riyadh Season bills, they just want good fights and wars. So I just have to really win, win in good fashion, and I think they'll have me back.”
