Liam Smith has opened up about how his weight cut for the Chris Eubank Jr. fight had impacted his performance.
Smith was stopped in the tenth round after being dropped twice in a defeat that many did not see coming. Although Eubank was helped by the introduction of Brian McIntyre (Bomac) in his corner, it appears that Smith had some issues in the fight. In the second round, it appeared that he may have hurt his ankle. In addition, the Liverpudlian disclosed how his weight had gotten to cruiserweight during his time out with injury before the Eubank fight. And it all came to a head in the performance.
Liam Smith Praises Eubank: He Was The Better Man, I Was Flat From The Get-Go https://t.co/fIoXeJZhff pic.twitter.com/Kbalt5wqMG
— BoxingScene.com (@boxingscene) September 3, 2023
“The weight cut just took its toll on me, from the minute of the back injury to the minute of the rescheduled date…I think everyone knows and Chris knows how I was with the weight, to say at the weigh-in. After the injury, I came down three stone (42 pounds) and so [that is] a lot of weight to shift in a short space of time.
Despite this being the case, Smith can have no excuses. After all, he did call out Eubank for making excuses when the latter alleged that Smith had used an illegal elbow as part of his victory in the first fight.
“That (elbow) accusation made Chris look laughable rather than anybody else,’ Smith exclusively told Mail Sport. He’s come with the elbow, he blamed the referee. Because he activated the rematch clause he’s got to come up with some excuse and he really is that stupid he’s blaming all different excuses,” Smith
So with their two fights tied at 1-1, will there be calls for a third? Time will tell.