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Photos: Liam Smith, Chris Eubank Jr. - Face To Face To Kick Off Fight Week

Published Tue Aug 29, 2023, 7:51 PM

Fight week is here for the anticipated middleweight rematch between bitter rivals Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jr. (photos by Lawrence Lustig)

Promoted by BOXXER, Smith-Eubank II and additional undercard bouts will stream live and exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+ starting at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT. Sky Sports Box Office will broadcast the event in the UK and Ireland.

Smith (33-3-1, 20 KOs) captured the WBO junior middleweight title with a seventh-round TKO win over Apollo Thompson in 2015. He defended the title twice before losing to Canelo Alvarez in 2016. Smith remained a division mainstay during the following five years, earning wins over the likes of Liam Williams, Anthony Fowler and Jessie Vargas. In September 2022, he made his middleweight debut with a stoppage win over Hassan Mwakinyo before upsetting Eubank via fourth-round TKO in their first encounter.

Eubank (32-3, 23 KOs) began his pro career in 2011 and went 18-0 before losing to Billy Joe Saunders in 2014. In 2017, he moved up to super middleweight and beat former two-division world champion Arthur Abraham and then-unbeaten contender Avni Yildirim. In his first world title shot, he suffered a unanimous decision loss to George Groves in February 2018. Eubank returned with wins against JJ McDonagh and former world champion James DeGale before returning to middleweight, where he was 4-0 before the first Smith showdown.