Every fight from Liam Smith vs Chris Eubank Jr card, including Marku and Clarke
MANCHESTER ARENA — Chris Eubank Jr will get the chance to avenge a devastating TKO defeat to Liam Smith in tonight’s rematch.
Eubank is being tipped to retire should he lose again, while Smith is eyeing one final world title shot.
Here’s every fight from the undercard so far:
Frazer Clarke’s victory over David Allen almost descended into farce, with Clarke fortunate not to be disqualified after a series of low blows. It had been totally one-sided, with Clarke dominant, but he was docked two points – and he was given prior warnings before that – as Allen continued to protest.
Allen ultimately quit at the end of the sixth round with a jaw injury and Clarke batted away any hopes he might have entertained of a rematch, insisting: “It’s a fighting game and I’m a clean fighter. “It was never intentional, I felt a few of them were good shots,” Clarke said, accusing Allen of “trying to manipulate the referee”.
Earlier, Lauren Price had extended her record to 5-0, but perhaps not in the manner she would have liked with Lolita Muzeya unable to carry on after a clash of heads in the fifth round. There had been some consternation about Price fighting too early on the card, before pay-per-view came into play.
Frankie Stringer also eased to a points victory in his six-rounder with Engel Gomez, the 22-year-old lightweight coming out on top by a margin of 60-54.
Florian Marku demolished Dylan Moran, a former sparring partner of Conor McGregor inside a round – 54 seconds, to be precise – before using his post-fight interview to set up a host of fights, with a range in likelihood of them actually being possible – the retired Kell Brook, Conor Benn (whose return to British boxing still faces a contest) and Josh Taylor.
This was at least a thoroughly convincing TKO from the Albanian, who had just one stoppage in his last five before the first bell.
Mikaela Mayer had no issues on her super-lightweight debut against the former European champion Silvia Bortot, who provided a decent contest but was nevertheless beaten in every round.
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Jack Cullen knocked out Mark Heffron with an extraordinary third-round left hook to claim his British and Commonwealth super-middleweight belts. When Heffron was caught early in the first round, it first looked as though it might be an aberration.
Yet Cullen perfected his range and though Heffron staggered to his feet after the knockdown, he had been seriously rocked and needed attention in his corner as the bout was called.
Still to come
- Liam Smith vs Chris Eubank Jr (middleweight)
- Adam Azim vs Aram Faniian (super-lightweight
