Former super-middleweight world champion, Carl Froch, has revealed his prediction for this weekend’s British grudge match between Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jr.
Smith sensationally became the first man to stop Eubank back in January, ending their bout with a dramatic combination in the fourth-round, forcing the referee to step in and wave the contest off.
Ever since, Eubank has claimed that ‘Beefy’ threw an elbow during the decisive flurry and the outcome was nothing less than a ‘miracle’.
In an interview with talkSPORT, Froch predicted a similar outcome to their first bout, amid suspicions surrounding Eubank’s ability to make the 160lb limit.
“Just based on what I saw in the first fight, I think that Liam Smith is going to come even more confident, he’s just a more-natural all-round boxer and fighter. I just think that the experience that he has got, at the level that he has been at, I know he lost to Canelo but he has been in there with him, he’s got that boxing IQ.
Even if Eubank turns up and he is ten/fifteen percent better, which will be difficult for him because he is done at that weight now and he has still got to make 160, [I still fancy Smith].
For him to turn it around totally on its’ head and all of a sudden have punch resistance [is a big ask]. I might be totally wrong, Chris Eubank might have been ill, he might have crashed the weight, he might have been on the weight for way too long.
I’m thinking that Liam Smith goes in there, it’s going to take him longer, but I think he is going to get to Eubank and he is going to demolish him again.”
Smith and Eubank will meet in the ring once again on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports pay-per-view, in a card billed as ‘repeat or revenge’.