Eubank Jr vs Smith LIVE: Fight updates, result and reaction as Smith scores stunning KO

The venerable Steve Bunce has given his thoughts on this evening’s main event.

”Smith and Eubank Jr have been in the same fighting circles for a long time, sparring on occasion, eyeing each other up, separated by a few pounds and inevitably pulled together when the sums made sense. It is a very good fight at any weight; Eubank Jr has none of the weight-draining obligations hanging high above his head that he had for last year’s cancelled fight with Conor Benn. It was called off after an irregular drug test surfaced and after a bad 24 hours for the sport, where it looked like the pound note and not common sense and decency would rule the day. Benn was brutally cast out.

“The fallout from that failure is still being felt, but Eubank Jr has insisted that it has not caused him to lose a moment of sleep. “It happened, the fight was off - I moved on and now I have to beat Liam,” said Eubank Jr. Meanwhile, Benn is still insisting that he is innocent of all drug charges and is hoping to totally clear his name in the coming weeks.

“Smith emerged as an opponent from that mess and that is how the year will start with a tremendous domestic fight. It is, make no mistake, a risk for both.”

Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the much-anticipated middleweight bout between Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith in Manchester this evening.

Eubank Jr (32-2, 23 knockouts) was set for the biggest fight of his career in October, as the son of boxing icon Eubank Sr was scheduled to face Connor Benn, the son of Nigel Benn, in London. But adverse findings in Benn’s drug-test results saw the main event aborted at short notice.

Now, Eubank Jr, 33, looks to move forward with a new headline bout, taking on 34-year-old Liverpudlian Smith (32-3-1, 19 KOs) - part of a boxing family himself - in something of a grudge match, with fight week being marred by controversy.

Smith made homophobic remarks and questioned Eubank Jr’s sexuality during Thursday’s press conference, with accusations of Smith cheating on his wife being thrown in the opposite direction, before Junior then wore a rainbow armband to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community for Friday’s weigh-in. The British Boxing Board of Control confirmed that they will “consider the conduct of both boxers directly,” while British LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall has urged the governing body to show they take anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric seriously.

Stick with us for all the action

Good to see both men agreeing that some of the histrionics in the build-up were over the line. But nice words from Eubank Jr to the man who beat him.