Liam Smith had been placed under a lot of pressure to take the Chris Eubank Jr. fight.
That is according to his trainer, Joe McNally. Smith looked a shadow of the man, who had stopped Eubank Jr. earlier this year in the fourth round. He was comprehensively outboxed and outmuscled, as Eubank dropped his opponent twice on his way to a tenth-round stoppage. Although that may have been the case, Smith did highlight the problems he had suffered in his preparation. This included losing 42 pounds in order to make weight, as the pounds piled on during his time out with injury. But given that the fight had been postponed twice, June 17th, and July 1st, 2023, McNally admitted that his fighter had made a mistake in taking the fight.
“This is a fact, my own self, as his coach, said, ‘Son, there’s no way you can fight this date. You’re too heavy. You’re gonna need at least eight to 10 weeks to get the weight off. On the consensus that his back wasn’t 100% to do his road work, to put the work in to get the weight off to start camp. It’s a bit harsh. His weight was good until the injury. [Smith said], ‘No, I’ll do it, I’ll do it, I’ll do it,” Smith
Nevertheless, the prospect of a Eubank fight with Conor Benn also complicated matters. There were concerns that had Smith not taken the fight, then Benn would have taken his place instead. Although Benn has a hearing going on due to the British Boxing Board of Control and UKAD appealing his suspension being uplifted, Smith was allegedly put in a position where he had no choice but to take the fight.
“I said to Liam, you can’t fight this date. Look, the facts that I got is, well, if I don’t accept this date, Chris is gone. I’ve lost the fight. Then he’s left in limbo, which the fight he got threatened with is Chris is gonna fight Conor Benn. But that fight was never going to happen anytime soon.
“And then the other threat is if we changed the date—so when you’re training and your back’s f—– you need to go and get a doctor’s report and evaluation. He’s injured still. Sauerlands would sue Liam and the promotion and Sky for loss of earnings. That’s a fact,” McNally