Former super featherweight world champion Barry Jones has branded claims that Liam Smith landed an ‘illegal elbow’ on Chris Eubank Jr during their bout last month as ‘ludicrous’ and claimed the Liverpool fighter is ‘not that good’ to land an elbow in the heat of battle. Eubank Jr’s team are considering an appeal to the British Boxing Board of Control regarding an elbow allegedly thrown and connected by Smith during the final sequences of the Liverpudlian’s fourth-round stoppage win.
Next Gen’s promoter Kalle Sauerland recently revealed that they are ‘looking into’ the possibility of an appeal to the Board while coach Roy Jones Jr also raised concerns about an elbow being landed by Smith when firing back at criticisms about his coaching style.
Posting a still image of the supposed elbow connecting with Eubank Jr to Instagram, he wrote: “Avoid Roy Jones Jr as a trainer! Never mind this elbow…… Just avoid him – Damn, If I can take all that away from a fighter via training, no wonder I raised so much hell in my day!”
Smith has already laughed off suggestions of an alleged illegal elbow and most fans think the conspiracies are ‘far-fetched’. Boxer-turned-pundit Jones, who is also an Express Sport columnist, is no different. “It’s ludicrous. People on social media, they grab something and they go ‘look at this!’ When you slow things down, you can make anything look great or bad,” he told Sky Sports’ Toe2Toe Podcast.
“You’re not going to think, ‘I’ve got him hurt, I won’t hit him with a left hook, I’ll hit him with an elbow just in case.’ It’s rubbish. It’s irrelevant. He got stopped because he was beaten by a guy who was better than him on the night. It’s pure and simple.”
Regardless of whether an appeal is made, Eubank Jr will have the opportunity to run back the fight in the not-so-distant future as he looks to activate the rematch clause in his contract with Smith. Post-fight the Brighton boxer confirmed that he wants to box Smith again and that he would be happy to stage it at Anfield, in his adversary’s home city of Liverpool.