Carl Froch has weighed in on the upcoming rematch between Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jr – and he is envisaging another tough night for Eubank in Manchester.
After months of speculation, Smith vs Eubank Jr 2 was announced for September 2nd at the AO Arena, the same venue that saw ‘Next Gen’ brutally stopped for the first time in his career by betting underdog Smith.
Perceptions are very different second time around, with ‘Beefy’ the favourite in the eyes of both the boxing public and the bookmakers to get the better of Eubank once again.
Speaking on his YouTube channel Froch on Fighting, ‘The Cobra’ admitted he was struggling to see a way for Jr to reverse the result of the January defeat.
“Based on what I saw in the first fight, I think this could be a demolition job by Liam Smith again. Rematches rarely go differently than the first fight, more often than not it happens again and the guy who won the first one wins the second one.”
“He [Eubank Jr] looked gone, and I don’t know if you can come back from that type of defeat with any kind of confidence.”
“I’ve got to make Liam Smith the favourite, but I’ll see what they look like at the press conference. But it’s another great fight that I’m glad is being made.”
There had been strong rumours that Eubank would take on Conor Benn instead of rematching Smith, though the stalling of Benn’s case with UKAD, where he was ultimately cleared, put paid to those plans.