Former world champion Liam Smith has clapped back at his upcoming opponent, middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr.
The fight takes place on June 17 at the Manchester Arena. Sky Sports Box Office will distribute the event.
Back in January, Smith pulled off a shocker when he knocked out Eubank in four rounds. Smith rocked and dropped Eubank hard, twice. The referee would wave off the fight as Eubank was clearly out on his feet.
After mulling other potential options, Eubank would activate an immediate rematch clause.
During the pre-fight build to the first encounter, Eubank claimed that he would only need to be at 50% to defeat someone like Smith.
Now the roles are reversed, as Smith mocked Eubank’s past comments with a bit of banter.
“I might give Chris 50% this time. We’ll see how my camp goes. No, you pay attention to that you’re clueless, you’re in the wrong sport. Do you firmly believe Chris was 50%, I’ll tell you now I can’t make weight if I train 50%. That’s just, what would you call it?,” Smith said.
“Not even bravado, just ego and selling the fight, being smart and trying to belittle me, that’s all that was. That’s why I trained the way I trained, all that was just an act. Do you think Roy Jones is coming here to train a 50% condition fighter? That was just a tactic to belittle me.
“I think even before the fight he had seen an interview of me a long time before the fight was made saying ‘there is not a chance he can beat me at 60%’. So instead he turned up at the press conference and said he can beat me at 50%. So it was just a clever move on his behalf rather than he actually meant anything by it.”