Eubank vs Smith in talks for Dec. 17

Liam Smith is coming off a stoppage win over Hassan Mwakinyo in September

Chris Eubank Jr might be able to squeeze another fight into 2022 after all, as the Daily Star’s Chris McKenna reports that Eubank is “in talks” for a December 17th showdown with Liam Smith.

McKenna does stress, however, that no contracts have been signed and the fight could be pushed back to early ‘23.

Smith (32-3-1, 19 KO), a longtime super welterweight who took a sojourn to 160 for a September stoppage of Hassan Mwakinyo, already made clear his desire to square off with Eubank (32-2-3, 23 KO). I don’t imagine it will be too terribly difficult to get these two in the ring with one another, though a month and a half is definitely a tight deadline. The fact that Eubank was just in camp for Conor Benn and Smith took no damage against Mwakinyo could make it feasible, though.

Smith’s relentless advance and Eubank’s bottomless gas tank should produce a proper donnybrook, though it’s a bit disappointing to see Eubank once again fight someone who isn’t a middleweight contender. He faced some tough customers at 168, but in the three years since he dropped back down, he’s fought Matt Korobov, Marcus Morrison, Wanik Awidjan, and Liam Williams.

Really is a shame how dead the division has become.