Callum Smith’s brother, Liam, takes on Chris Eubank Jr in a crunch bout in Manchester
Speaking to Boxxer, Callum Smith is adamant that the flashy Roy Jones Jr's style won’t work with Chris Eubank Jr and that his brother Liam will be too smart for the Brighton boxer when they clash tonight in Manchester, live on Sky Sports.
The once-beaten former super-middleweight world champion is now campaigning at light-heavyweight, where he has won both his fights so far, and revealed his target: "I want to fight Beterbiev at Anfield – but it’s not as easy as people think".
Here's what the 32-year-old had to say:
Flashy Roy Jones Jr style as trainer won’t work on Chris Eubank Jr
“Eubank is trying to improve as a fighter under Roy Jones Jr, working on boxing ability because of his lack of amateur experience but I don’t think the old Eubank is dead, I think he’ll always be able to stand and have a fight with you and I think he will in this fight.
“He'll try and box – the way Roy Jones wants him to box – being a little bit flashy but if it does not work, I don’t believe it will, he’ll revert to type and that’s when it becomes exciting."
Liam Smith will be too smart for Eubank Jr
“Liam is too smart and too clever for Eubank at the highest level, both had great careers but Liam is that one step further and boxed at slightly higher level than Eubank. Eubank has wins over Jame DeGale but he was on the slide when he fought him, he also stepped up against George Groves and Billy-Joe Saunders and came up short.
“I think stylically it’ll be a good fight but Eubank will come up short. They’ll gel pretty well, but the deciding factor will be Liam’s brain and experience at the highest level.”
I want to fight Artur Beterbiev at Anfield
“I’m in training and hoping to get a date finalised for March, I’m hoping to get it done next week. I’m due to fight the winner of Beterbiev and Yarde. That’s likely to come in August and I don’t want to sit out until the biggest fight of my career, I want to stay active. It’s risky but if I want to become world champion then I should be able to beat anyone else in the meantime.
“Beterbiev is obviously the favourite over Yarde, unless he shows signs of age, he is definitely the favourite. They’re both big punchers, but you’d have to go Beterbiew on what we’ve seen. I'd fight the winner at back end of the summer hopefully as Beterbiew does Ramadan."
“Beterbiev is coming to London to fight Yarde, so maybe he’ll come to Liverpool to fight me. I’m happy to travel to America, I’ve boxed there many times before.
“Hopefully Anfield happens but it’s not as straightforward as people think, you need the right opponent, time of year, they’re doing the stand up so that takes away some of the dates in the summer, so it’s all got to be perfect. Liam and Eubank would have been great there but it’s all about timing. It would be a dream come true, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
