The pride of Merseyside is on the line as super-welterweights Liam Smith and Anthony Fowler battle it out this Saturday evening at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.
‘Beefy’ Smith’s (29-3-1, 16 KOs) last bout saw him lose to a rising star in the super-welterweight division Magomed Kurbanov via a contentious points decision. The former WBO world super-welterweight champion other two losses have come to big name fighters in the shape of Jamie Munguia and the current pound for pound best who has also defeated his brother Callum last December, Canelo Alvarez.
However, with big names already on the 33-year-olds record, it will give him the advantage of experience in the ring.
The man in the other corner will be 2014 Commonwealth gold medallist, Anthony Fowler (15-1, 12 KOs). ‘The Machine’s’ last outing was a comfortable 8th round TKO win against German Rico Mueller at week one of Matchroom’s Fight Camp in July. The 30-year-old has been on a 6-fight win streak since he suffered his only career defeat against domestic rival Scott Fitzgerald via split decision in March of 2019.
A big factor in the fight will be the inactivity of Smith, with him only fighting once since the start of 2020, to put that in perspective, Fowler has fought four times in that same period, keeping active over the pandemic.
Despite the mutual respect between the two fighters, they exchanged a few words at the press conference on Thursday with Smith claiming, “Fowler in a proper fight now.”
Fowler responded insisting “I am at my physical peak” with his trainer Shane McGuigan backing his fighter up saying, “We’re quietly very confident about this fight”.
At the weigh ins on Friday, both Liverpudlians looked in phenomenal shape with ‘Beefy’ weighing in at the super-welterweight limit of 154lbs, with the younger man coming in slightly lighter at 153lb 2oz.
Now all the talking is done, all that’s left to do is fight. The fight will be streamed on DAZN for £7.99 a month, with the undercard featuring the likes of Ted Cheeseman, Shannon Courtenay and the debut of 2021 Olympian Peter McGrail.