Liam Smith 33-4-1 (20) wants a third crack at Chris Eubank Jr 33-3 (24) after they split their first two fights one apiece.
Former WBO junior middleweight champion Smith, 35, surprised Eubank Jr in their first middleweight bout in January, knocking him out in four frames.
The rematch nine months later was a different story. The 34-year-old Eubank Jr was in control for much of the fight, dropping Smith in the fourth and again in the 10th before the fight was stopped in the same round.
Since then Eubank Jr has been linked to a grudge match against domestic rival Conor ‘The Destroyer’ Benn 22-0 (14). The pair were scheduled to fight in October last year before the 27-year-old Benn, who boxes at welterweight, failed a drug test.
He has since been battling the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) to get his licence back. As recently as last week, the BBBofC said that would not be happening.
“The Board feel that any athlete who has failed a drugs test needs to go through an investigation with the proper authorities and that hasn’t happened,” said Robert Smith, general secretary of the BBBofC, to talkSPORT.
“We’re waiting for that to happen and the BBBofC and UKAD have been pushing for that to happen right from the beginning of this and unfortunately it’s been delayed, not through the BBBofC or UKAD, but through other parties.
“With regard to Mr Benn boxing in this country, we have had an application for him to box in this country, that has been refused.”
With Eubank without a dance partner, Smith says he would welcome the opportunity to go 2-1 against the son of former two-weight world champion and British boxing royalty Chris Eubank Sr.
“I’d loved that to happen,” Smith said in an interview with Boxing News. “If you ask me right now, I’d pay money out of my own pocket to fight Chris again. That’s one that eats away at me. He’s probably going to take that win and go elsewhere instead of trying to make a trilogy and beat me convincingly next time. But we’ll see. We’ll see how it plays out.
“If he’s not going to fight Conor, who’s he gonna fight? We’ll see. I’m not really confident in that at the moment. I’ve had a good rest and let my injuries heal and I’ll be looking toward March, end of February, probably March, with no pressure to fight, no pressure of making weight.”
“The people I’m talking to now is basically asking me ‘when?’. If they got a fight for me in March, I’m pretty sure they’ll offer me, so yeah I’ve spoken to Matchroom last weekend, I’ve got a couple of other options at the moment. I’m coming off the back of a loss but I’m still in a good place, still got options, left, right and center. I’m pretty sure I’ll be in big fights.”
