Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith: What happened when they sparred and what does it mean for the fight | Boxing News

For Chris Eubank Jr. it makes no sense. It’s not even memorable. For Liam Smith, however, it’s another matter entirely. He came out of it with the belief that, underdog or not, he could beat the Brighton star.

For the rest we leave it a mystery. What happened the last time Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith were in the ring together? What happens when they spar?

Eubank insists it should be like any other training session. He didn’t even remember.

“It’s obviously just another day in the gym. I’m sure I handle it well. I’m sure I imposed dominance on people, like I do with most sparring partners and I go about business,” said Eubank. Sky Sports.

“It was at Amir Khan’s gym. I just remember sparring with his brother Paul, I believe, before I sparred with him.

“I did four rounds with Paul and then I did four rounds with him and the truth is I can’t remember how it happened it was just like that. .

“I hit 90 per cent of my sparring partner. So it’s very likely that I did. But I don’t really remember.”

This is a claim that Smith denies.

“He thinks he battered me in sparring? He got another think coming,” Smith said Sky Sports. “Look, I’m taking this fight for a reason and I’m very confident and sparring plays a part.

“If he beats his sparring partner, I won’t be in this fight; I’m number two in the WBO at light middleweight, I’m number three with the WBC.”

“They put in a rematch clause,” he said. “If he beat his sparring partner and if he was so confident in this fight, why put him in? It’s black and white evidence.”

Smith’s memories are special. He remembers hurting Eubank, especially with shots to the body.

“I will prove it tonight. His face is very good. His body is not good and it can hurt in the body. I know I can go to the body,” said the Liverpudlian. “And I know 100 million percent, I’ve had Chris in my body.

“They will tell you differently because of smugness, but again I take this fight for a reason.”

Eubank shrugged off the thought that Smith had unearthed a weakness for his body.

“He doesn’t pose too much danger, for someone like me who knows how to handle a guy like that. It’s going to be a lot of fun for me, I think. It’s going to be a very fun fight,” the Brighton star said.

“I’m not really afraid of a fighter like Liam Smith or what he can bring to the table. I wouldn’t say he’s average because he’s an elite level fighter. But there’s nothing for me to worry about.

“Unless he’s going to be a different person in the ring that night, I think I’ll handle him comfortably.”

The sparring session took place more than seven years ago, when Paul Smith, Liam’s older brother, was preparing for a super middleweight title fight with Arthur Abraham.

Eubank was there mainly to spar with his older, older brother and his side seemed almost to despise Liam Smith, initially. That changed when they actually sparred.

Paul Smith refused to talk about the sparring. But he is sure of one thing – Eubank will remember.

“I won’t say what happened in sparring because I’m a bit old school like that and sparring stays in the gym. But Eubank knows what happened in sparring with Liam,” he said.

“You don’t forget the same type of spars,” he added. “The fact that he said he doesn’t remember is a bit of bravado. It’s just not true.”

The elder Smith was undaunted when he saw his brother back in the ring with Eubank on Jan. 21.

“It’s a tough competitive spar where they’re letting big shots go. But Liam more than holds his own in that spar,” he said.

They really don’t believe Eubank Jr will be able to handle the pressure like Liam Smith did on Saturday.

“He went in with Liam. I remember exactly what happened. He sparred me. He came out after six [rounds], he was going to do eight on Monday. He’s probably better than me. We did six rounds, he won four rounds if you count,” he recalled.

“On Friday again, I caught him with a right hand, I didn’t grab his leg or anything, but it was good and he didn’t want to participate much. I’ve seen him do it in fights where he just didn’t seem to want to participate, which try to coast through.

“Liam Williams, [Eubank] when he goes, he puts in a lot and suddenly he starts to feel the speed, takes his foot off the gas,” said the older Smith.

“I think he’s going to have doubts about his machine, about his fitness to do 12 rounds, bell for bell, at a good pace. There’s a difference between doing 12 rounds and actually working the bells or working in bursts.

“I don’t think he’s done for a long time. I feel worried inside.”

Like Eubank Jr, Liam Smith has his own beliefs. “You can’t beat me on the jab,” Smith told him.

“It’s comfortable for you to do that with Williams because you dropped him with jabs. The fight ended up a close fight with Williams and dropped him four times. If I dropped him the fourth time it’s getting finished, regardless.

“Stop everything down, clear Chris’s aura down, clear Eubank’s name down, performances don’t lie.”

This makes both sides a competitive contest. Manchester’s Anthony Crolla, a former world champion, is one of Liam Smith’s sports mates. He witnessed the spars.

“I predict an incredibly exciting fight,” Crolla said Sky Sports. “Honestly, great sparring. I must have seen him spar five times.

“Sounds cheesy but if the fight is like sparring we are in to heal.”

He admits that sparring is different. This is part of the training, to learn, when the fighters are in camp and not 100 percent.

“What I saw was not Chris Eubank at his best,” Paul Smith also noted. “Listening to Chris Eubank could hurt Liam too… We’ll find out.

“This is a proper fight. This is a 50-50 fight.”

But the sparring was an indication of the kind of contest to expect on Saturday.

“I’m not just saying Liam gets better from every spar because he doesn’t and again what does that take away from sparring?” said Crolla. “And listen Junior has gotten better since then.

“But Liam I would say definitely got more than the majority of them and landed some really good shots. I know he mentioned about hitting the body.

“Junior was really good chasing those threes [punch combinations], fours, fives die fast hands inside. I am the one who can determine the former.

“Junior will always succeed with someone in the pocket with him. I think Liam will have to come through the fire to make sure he succeeds that night. That’s why I think it can’t be anything but fantastic. fight.

“I think both fighters should go to the well,” he concluded.

“What a start to January, and even better in Manchester.”