By Allan Fox: Trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre was on cloud nine tonight, following his fighter Chris Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24 KOs) pulling off a tenth round TKO upset victory over Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith (33-4-1, 20 KOs) in their middleweight rematch at the AO Arena in Manchester.
Boxing fans & the media had counted out Eubank Jr. after his fourth round knockout victory on January 21st in his first fight with Smith because he’d looked poor and not the fighter he’d been a decade ago.
Tonight, Eubank Jr. dropped the 35-year-old Smith twice and got a referee stoppage in the tenth.
BoMac gloated a bit after the fight because the win gave him, as a trainer, back-to-back huge victories. Last July, Terence Crawford topped Errol Spence Jr. in the ninth round to give BoMac his best win ass a coach.
With that said, Liam Smith isn’t one of the top fighters at 160, and he’s coniderreed a washed former 154-lb champion. You can’t throw Liam in with a top 154-lb fighter like Tim Tszyu, Brian Mendoza, or Jermell Charlo and expect him to win or even be competitive.
Likewise, Liam would have the same problems at 160, going up against the top fighters in that weight class like Carlos Adames, Jermall Charlo, and Janibek Alimkhanuly.
To get excited about Chris Eubank Jr., he would need to beat the above fighters, and the reality is he can’t
The punch & grab style that Eubank Jr. used through much of tonight’s fight with Liam Smith wouldn’t be effective against Janibek, Mendoza, Tszyu, Jermell, or Erislandy Lara because they’re high-level fighters and not over-the-hill.
“I’m happy for Chris. He did some things he didn’t want to do in the camp that was going to be beneficial to him. He did it and got the job done,” said Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre to Boxing King Media following his win over Liam Smith on Saturday night.
“Andy knows his boxing. Everybody else was just throwing Chris away, just being disrespectful to him. I knew in the little time I was working with him, I knew Chri had it in him.
“He listens in the corner, he listens in camp, so he got the job done. I know what it takes to be a champion, and I know what it takes to win a fight.
“I’ve been studying Liam for a long time, and I’ve been watching him for a long time for previous fights [a long, long time ago] against Canelo and [Jessie] Vargas. So, I watched him, and I knew what kind of fighter he was.
“You just have to be a good trainer to beat that style. The style that he had, Chris displayed what he had to do to knock him off and stop him.
“Just stay focused, stay relaxed, don’t get overexcited, and just keep working behind the jab. I got to get with his management team. They’re happy, and I’m sure Chris is happy as well,” said BoMac.
