“They made a huge mistake,” Liam Smith says of Josh Kelly and Adam Booth ahead of his fight with Kelly at Wembley Stadium in London on September 21.
“Failure means the end for me. [But] losing is also terrible for Josh. Where will Josh go after losing to me? He lost to David Avanesyan. He beat a few cans of tomatoes on Channel 5. His best win was Troy Williamson. He loses to me, I just don’t see where he goes. He’s 30. So it’s a huge mistake they made.
“Screw me at your own risk. People are too fleet to do that. I’ve been a professional for a long time. Years ago I was “done” and then suddenly I beat [Anthony] Fowler, Beating [Jessie] Vargas, beating [Chris] Eubank. My last two fights, I won two Sky pay-per-views, sold out arenas. I’ve been written off many times before this and I’ll do the same this time.
If the injured Smith’s one-sided defeat in his September 2023 rematch with Eubank does not end his long career as a world-class fighter, there is no doubt that the talented Kelly is preparing for his toughest fight yet.
At 36, Smith sees parallels to his victory over a younger, fresher Anthony Fowler in 2021 – the same year his career was first deemed to be in jeopardy, and Kelly, when he fought David Avanesyan, was a tough opponent and lost for the first time.
When the Daniel Dubois-Anthony Joshua undercard was revealed, and Smith and Kelly were both on it, it was the only fight that initially carried some degree of uncertainty – whether they would fight at junior middleweight or middleweight. When it was confirmed they would fight at middleweight, a weight the 30-year-old Kelly had never fought at before but where Smith’s physique naturally developed, both the risk and reward seemed more significant to Kelly, which perhaps contributed to the feeling that he and his trainer had angered Smith.
“It reminds me a lot of [preparing for Fowler]”, he continued to BoxingScene. “Josh and probably Adam Booth think they’ll get me at the right time; the perfect time for them, after Eubank’s performance. I understand why, but I have to prove why – they didn’t look into it that much. Adam and Josh were at ringside for the Eubank fight and probably think they’ll get me at the right time because Adam Booth and Josh Kelly have never, ever mentioned my name.
“If I didn’t know the problems behind [Eubank] performance, I would have just pulled out of the ring. If I had a good camp and performed like that, I would have pulled out then and there. How can I go from Fowler, Vargas, Eubank and that to being finished? How can I go from being the number one middleweight in the UK to number three when I was injured and forced into that day? I’m vocal about it – that’s why I’m coming for Ben Shalom the way I’m coming for Ben Shalom. I was basically forced into that rematch that day. I wish I had called their bluff, but I didn’t; hindsight is great. I paid a higher price for that than anyone else.
“It was [a mistake to take the Eubank rematch]. I was forced to do the second date because I had already pulled out of June 17th. A rematch was arranged and announced for July. I don’t understand how I could pull out of June 17th with a back injury and then fight two weeks later. Boxxer did that to put pressure on me and when they announced on September 2nd if I didn’t fight on that date, “Eubank will walk”; my contract will go down; they can’t pay me; it’ll be a mess. Shit like that.
“But I thought, ‘If I make weight, I’ll beat him. I know I’m a better fighter with him. With gloves and adrenaline, I’ll beat him.’ It didn’t work out. Boxxer got the show anyway; Chris won; then Boxxer signed Chris. It’s another lesson for me, but once bitten, twice as shy. Whatever I do in my career, I’ll never make that mistake with the fighters I manage. To this day [I regret it]. This is eating me up. I’ll take half the money to fight Chris again.
Smith’s trainer Joe McNally has also spoken of the prospect of a third fight with Eubank, with both recognising that there is no risk in Smith’s fitness – he claims that the back that hampered his rematch with Eubank has fully recovered – and McNally is also frustrated by what he and his fighter see as Booth and Kelly trying to beat them on the way down.
If Smith has something to prove, so does his Liverpool coach. The middleweight insists he is not underestimating Kelly, but he speaks with the same passion, without prompting, about Eubank. It is the same passion that not only drove home his win over Fowler but also his rematch with Liam Williams in 2017; it is also a passion perhaps fuelled by Eubank fighting in another Riyadh season a month later, and therefore heightened by the potential for a rematch.
“I’ve never in my life [am I taking victory for granted]because I lose and I’m finished,” he said. “I’m crazy about them thinking they’re going to get me at the right time. I’m crazy about Adam Booth thinking he’s so intelligent at these games and what’s going on with this VADA thing. Like I told Adam, “This is your first rodeo with Josh. Don’t start being intelligent.” I told him, “I’ve always respected you until you started playing this game. Don’t do that or I’ll wipe the floor with you.” They picked the wrong person to be intelligent.
“It’s not like I got punished in the Eubank fight. I was bored out of my mind. People are probably surprised when I say that. He doesn’t hit difficult enough; I’ve got a really good chin; I’ve got a lot of stamina. It sounds crazy. ‘How can you be bored – you’re losing?’ I thought, ‘You’ve just drained your tank trying to finish me; you couldn’t; you’re on the defensive now,’ and I couldn’t put the punches together to wear him down. I just didn’t have it in me to do it. It was preparation; the back injury that was bothering me all camp. It had nothing to do with the ankle. If I had fought, the adrenaline would have gotten the better of the ankle, effortless. I was just bored, [and] thinking about a million things.
“[Kelly’s] very good. Very good. Very talented. Lots and lots of talent, [that] You’re lucky you were born with it. He’s got those fast-twitch fibers, that fluidity, that athleticism. How tough a fighter he is is another story. I don’t think he likes anything tough. I don’t think he has the biggest heart. He’s very, very insecure, which is why he needs Adam Booth and Richard Towers wrapped around him, telling him how good he is, how great he is. That’s what he’s missing.
“[A third fight with Eubank] could be closer now because this season in Riyadh – Eubank is on it and I’m on it, so we both win, it’s probably easier to do. But throw me out of the picture, it’s probably effortless to do Hamzah [Sheeraz] and now also Eubank.
“From my point of view, I beat Liam Williams the first time, controversially. I gave Liam Williams a rematch. I said to Frank Warren, ‘Get a rematch with Liam Williams to right a wrong’. Eubank should say the same thing.”
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