Saturday’s evenly matched middleweight grudge match can lighten the shadow cast by Conor Benn’s failed drug tests
that “science” had exonerated him and the “evidence doesn’t lie”. Yet it is hard to find anyone, outside of the Benn and Hearn camp, who seriously believes both his test results were contaminated.
Against this dismal backdrop, Eubank Jr chose to accept a much more difficult challenge in fighting Smith. While he is still the bigger man, for Smith has fought mostly at super-welterweight, one division lighter than Saturday’s middleweight contest, Eubank Jr knows that his opponent is a tough and seasoned pro who has operated in the paid ranks since 2008. Smith has lost three of his 36 fights but he has been a world champion and alsowho stopped him in nine rounds in 2016.
Eubank Jr, at 33, is a year younger than Smith and he has also fallen short on two occasions – losing to Billy Joe Saunders and George Groves. He has, however, improved under a new trainer in Roy Jones Jr, the great former world champion, and Eubank will step into the ring as a marginal favourite. This still seems to resemble a 50-50 battle – but Eubank Jr believes he will eventually prove too big and too strong for Smith.
The evenly balanced nature of the bout, with both fighters having limitations at the very highest level, is intensified by the fact that defeat will be a grievous blow for the loser. “At this stage of my career I know I’ve got a lot to lose,” Smith concedes. “My fear is losing to somebody I should never lose to. And I feel I should never lose to Eubank Jr.”
An even more urgent statement is made by Eubank Jr: “If I don’t get the victory, my career is in dire, dire straits. It’s in jeopardy. Victory is the most important thing in my life at this moment.” He told me last week that this is a fight for the “purist” and, while it will be only Smith’s second middleweight bout scheduled for 12 rounds, Eubank Jr expects a gruelling scrap.
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