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Eubank Jr vs Smith: Boxing pros react to Liam Smith’s shocker fourth round knockout win

Liam Smith upset the odds with a TKO win over Chris Eubank Jr, something very few people saw coming.

Liam Smith upset the odds with a TKO win over Chris Eubank Jr
Liam Smith upset the odds with a TKO win over Chris Eubank Jr
Photo by Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images

Not many people expected Liam Smith to stop Chris Eubank Jr today in Manchester, but that’s exactly what happened, as Smith pulled off the upset via fourth round TKO in their middleweight main event.

Smith (33-3-1, 20 KO) scored what may have been the biggest win of his career, pouncing on Eubank (32-3, 23 KO) early in the fourth after a cagey first three rounds between the two, where Eubank’s jab and movement were giving Smith a little trouble, but Smith’s head movement and willingness to wade inside were not making it easy for Eubank, either.

At 34, “Beefy” Smith will now have major options at both 154 and 160, but there also is a rematch clause in the contract, which is no guarantee that Eubank, 33, will want to take it. Smith said after the fight that he’d want to do the rematch on his terms, including a possible 157 or 158 lb catchweight, but most likely the terms were in the original contract, whatever they may be.

The win itself is not a massive upset, but the method surprised pretty much everyone, and the British boxing world had a lot of immediate reactions to what happened:

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