Former WBO super welterweight world champion and one time Canelo Alvarez challenger Liam Smith is coming off two back to back fights with Chris Eubank Jr.
The first one he won by stoppage, the second one he lost by stoppage last year.
He’s been out of the ring over a year now and mentioned he turned down a fight recently as it was too short notice, prompting some unhappy sentiment from his promoter Eddie Hearn.
Speaking to IFL TV Smith said:
“This is Con Casses for ITV, and I’m joined by the angriest Smith family member—that lump behind you, Paul, who set you up. Well, he didn’t actually set me up, but Liam Smith, how are you?
For it? You asked him every question. You asked him the questions you knew I’d answer. How are you, first of all? Tell us.
I’m good. But you literally agreed with every answer because you set the questions up.
I asked the questions, yeah. Do you mean those questions?
Why are you asking different questions? What—what could I have asked?
Who’s the best at…? Who’s the best? You still got the same answers, though. Liam, who’s got the silverest hair? I could’ve asked a lot of stuff, couldn’t I?
Yeah, you could’ve asked the horrible ones, the ones you don’t want to be the answer to, right?
Calm down, G. Everyone watched it. A hundred thousand people saw that clip, by the way, and everyone agreed. Just you, me saying, “Boss Belt.” For all you, it’s not for me.
Anyway, your brother Callum—job done. A few rounds, got the stoppage.
Yeah, exactly. Probably what we all wanted and hoped for him. Look, as you probably saw, he wasn’t fully fit, and he’ll admit it himself. But he wanted the fight, wanted to be under the lights again. I said to him when he got in the ring, “It feels good getting back in here after being out so long.”
What he wanted was a game kid throwing shots back at him. Five rounds and he still managed to get the stoppage. It’s all about shaking off the cobwebs now, so he can do a full camp and be ready for February or March—or whenever the big fight happens. We know his intentions: to win another world title. He’s already done so much, but he wants to do it again.
There are rumors of a potential Beterbiev fight. With Beterbiev and Bivol fighting soon, we know Callum has already been in the ring with one of them. Are we going to see progress on that in the first three to six months? There’s not going to be a delay, is there?
No, definitely not. I think those big names are waiting in the wings. We’ll see what happens after the next match and what’s left for Callum to pick up. Those two—Beterbiev and Bivol—have been the best for a while now, and their rematch is coming up. They’ve made things exciting for the division. Callum is definitely looking to capitalize on whatever opportunities arise.
Negotiations are ongoing, and it’ll be interesting to see how things unfold. Callum came back to shake off the rust and get ready for something massive, and tonight’s objective has been checked off. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Shifting back to you, what’s next for Liam Smith?
I’m just back in the gym, training, and getting into a good place. I’m aiming for late January or February. Eddie offered me January 17th with a good fight—one that made sense—but it’s just too short notice to hit 160 on the dot. I think it’d be a hard sell, so I decided against it.
I don’t think Eddie’s too happy about it, but as I’ve said before, if I take a fight too soon and lose, there’s no big fight after that. I need to pick the right fights at the right time. To be fair, Eddie and Frank have been great. They gave me some names, went out, and secured one of them. It’s just the timing that’s the issue.
Was there a backup plan for January 17th?
Not really, and that’s where we’re struggling right now. I think Eddie’s a bit upset with me, but once things settle, we’ll figure it out. The fight they offered was solid, and I can sell a fight myself. Liverpool’s always a good option for me. If they want to go back there early in the year, I’m all for it.
Finally, what are your thoughts on the Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr. situation?
If they’re not fighting each other but taking on their respective rumored opponents, it makes sense. Eubank’s looking at a world title fight at middleweight, and if Benn fights Barrios, that works too. But if one of them loses, the big fight between Benn and Eubank might not happen. If Benn wins and Eubank loses, then Benn’s defending his WBC title while Eubank’s on a comeback. They should just fight now and sort the rest out later.
Anything else to add?
No, just that I’ll be back soon. Fingers crossed, it’ll be very soon—just not January 17th. I have to thank Eddie and Frank for their efforts. They’ve been great, even outside of boxing. They delivered one of the names I asked for, but January 17th just doesn’t work for me.
You’ve got to do what’s best for you.
Exactly. I don’t want to crash my weight and put in a poor performance. This is my last roll of the dice, so I have to get it right. Thanks for the chat.
Thank you, Liam Smith. We’ll catch up again when you have fight news, which I assume will be early in the new year.”
Always interesting, quality insight from Smith, as like his brothers, the well known Smith brothers in Liverpool, they are not only boxers but very well read up on the sport’s history and are big fans.
Hopefully Smith gets a fight date soon in 2025, he has plenty left in him to give boxing and fighters with modern science and nutrition are boxing into their early 40s now.
Artur Beterbiev at 39 at the moment is in his prime as his last fight with Dmitry Bivol showed not long ago.
