Boxing Live: Liam Smith thinks Chris Eubank Jr. was vulnerable to the knockout because he was “terrified” during their first encounter.
Liam Smith briefly caught Chris Eubank Jr. off guard at their press conference on Tuesday to announce their rematch for June 17.
Prior to their first fight in January, he inquired as to whether Eubank had been knocked out while practising. Eubank flatly rejected the allegation. But Smith asked for an explanation.
According to Smith, who works for Sky Sports, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he had been knocked out earlier in a sparring session due to his fear of being hit.”
Professional boxers are taught to recognise and take advantage of certain things. They’ll search for dread. They will benefit if they see anxiety or doubt of the sort that could limit activity and performance.
In fact, Smith started off by doing just that. He seized a chance after spotting it.
“Round one, I remember being close to him and he’s holding me and I’m just thinking you’re terrified,” Smith recalled.
“You’re afraid of being struck. He isn’t even moving his head [correctly] when you watch every replay, you notice. He had his eyes closed. He is moving his head to the side.”
“He was looking away out of fear of being hit,” Smith continued. The first shot wobbled him because of this. since he isn’t looking.
“As he was concentrating on the ground, the initial right hand struck him and landed squarely on his boots. I won’t sit here and make stuff up. I won’t stand here and gush, ‘Oh, that was a great shot’.”
The day before their bout, Smith said he noticed Eubank Jr. displaying an unusual reserve.
Smith recalled that following the weigh-in and a little period of talk, “He went silent and I just thought, Woah, he’s swallowed it there.”
“I had that in mind.
“He’s never reticent to speak, Chris, and I mentioned a few things to him, but he never responded. And I simply remarked, That’s not like you.”
Smith had made the switch to middleweight, a division in which Eubank Jr. was more seasoned. But he discovered that Eubank was hesitant to employ his size and anticipated strength.
Smith remarked, “He was on the back foot trying to box the way I anticipated he would. He was a large middleweight who was on the back foot yet held me back whenever I approached him. Despite being the bigger, stronger fighter, he chose not to fight.”
He thinks he saw terror at that time.
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