A massive all-British middleweight bout ended in stunning fashion as underdog Liam Smith knocked out bitter rival Chris Eubank Jr in Manchester last week.
Now, Eubank Jr’s promotional team are mulling an appeal to the British Boxing Board of Control over an alleged elbow from Smith in a flurry of brutal left hooks in the fourth round.
Eubank Jr – the former IBO super-middleweight and WBA interim middleweight champion – was downed by an uppercut in the barrage of punches, and was stopped after being downed again later in the round.
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Referee Victor Laughlin missed the apparent elbow and allowed the fight to continue, while Eubank Jr was gracious in defeat, declaring former WBO light-middleweight champion Smith landed a ‘once in a lifetime’ punch.
But fans were quick to spot the illegal act – accidental or not – and Eubank Jr’s promoters are now looking into an appeal to overturn the result and have the fight declared a no contest. Had he witnessed the elbow, Laughlin could have paused the bout and allowed Eubank Jr to recover from the blow, which appears to be the cause of a massive welt on his right cheek.
Kalle Sauerland of Wasserman Boxing, Eubank Jr’s promoters, told Sky Sports: “We are looking at it.”
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Eubank Jr’s trainer Roy Jones Jr also pointed to the shot after the fight at the AO Arena in Manchester. The iconic heavyweight sarcastically wrote: “Warning! All boxers! Avoid Roy Jones Jr as a trainer! Never mind this elbow. Just avoid him. Damn, If I can take all that away from a fighter via training, no wonder I raised so much hell in my day! That almost sounds like Godly qualities, And I’m nowhere near what God is!”
Eubank Jr had accused Smith of dirty tactics in the ugly war of wards in the build-up to the fight. In a promotional show The Gloves Are Off in the weeks before the bout, he said: “I’m just saying, I like when I see guys doing the headbutting and the elbowing, because that means that they’re not true, and when the going gets tough they look for ways out, they look for ways that they’re not supposed to use.
Smith hit back: “You’re reading that all wrong. I’ll do anything I can to beat you, anything. It’s a fight, it’s a called a fight.”
Eubank Jr has a contract clause allowing him an immediate rematch, something his promoters told Sky Sports they will consider activating in the coming weeks.
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