Smith vs Eubank 2 Running Order, Start Times, Undercard And Main Event Ring Walks
- Liam Smith Stopped Chris Eubank Jr. In 4 Rounds When The Pair Met In Jan
- Eubank Jr Will Attempt To Avenge His Only Stoppage Defeat This Saturday
- Smith vs Eubank 2 Running Order, Undercard And Other Important Details
Chris Eubank Jr (32-3, 23 KOs) and Liam Smith (33-3-1, 20 KOs) officially announced their Middleweight rematch last month after plenty of confusion surrounding Eubank’s next fight.
Smith vs Eubank 2 will take place this Saturday, September 2 at Manchester’s 20,000-capacity AO Arena,
The first fight sold out at the same venue. The rematch was rumoured for the O2 due to a tweet by Chris Eubank Jr indicating that, but the fight is back in Manchester where it will deliver the best business.
Smith sensationally stopped Eubank Jr in the fourth round when they met in January at a sold-out AO Arena in Manchester.
It was the first stoppage defeat for the man from Brighton, with the Liverpudlian an underdog going in.
The first fight between the British duo is understood to have generated between 200 and 250k buys on pay-per-view.
The pair were meant to meet for the second time at the same arena on June 17 and then July 1 but Smith withdrew both times from their Sky Sports Box Office main event fight.
Eubank has always been praised for his punch resistance and many felt that Smith’s KO victory was the result of the weight cut which saw him have to be 157 lbs for the Benn super fight.
The son of the legendary Chris Eubank Sr has now teamed up with Terence Crawford’s trainer, Brian McIntyre, in preparation for his rematch with Smith.
Smith vs Eubank 2 Undercard
Highly rated prospect Adam Azim (8-0, 6 KOs) will defend his WBA Continental title against the reigning IBO International champion, Ukraine’s Aram Faniian (22-1, 4 KOs) in the co-feature.
The bout is a reschedule of a June headliner which Azim was forced to pull out of due to injury.
Both Azim and Faniian’s trinket belts will be on the line with Azim now also world-ranked with the WBA at #11. Faniian doesn’t hold a world ranking but is #11 with the EBU and beating him will earn Azim the ranking he needs to be able to challenge for the European Super Lightweight title.
After a tremendous 2022, which included 5 KO victories in 5 fights all inside three rounds, Azim, who is sometimes labelled as Britain’s best prospect, took on fellow undefeated Santos Reyes. A dangerous South American who extended Azim the full 10-round distance.
Azim suffered a fractured scaphoid when he dropped the Nicaraguan in the second round and fought with that injury for the remainder of the contest. This injury scuppered plans to return to the ring in March but wasn’t as bad as experts first thought.
26-year-old Faniian’s sole defeat in his 9-year career comes at the hands of little-known Mexican Rene Tellez Giron in 2019. Faniian has fought 25 of his bouts out of his native Ukraine with his latest bout in Germany against Timo Schwarzkopf to win the IBO international.
A vastly more experienced fighter, Faniian marks another jump in levels for Azim and sees him take on a different kind of test, especially after coming off back-to-back injuries and a performance which was less explosive than we’re used to seeing from the 22-year-old.
Frazer Clarke vs Dave Allen
2020 Olympic bronze medallist Frazer Clarke (7-0, 5 KOs) and fan-favourite Dave Allen (21-5-2) clash on the card.
Allen retired from boxing after being knocked out unconscious while standing on his feet in sparring in 2020 but has since made a comeback to the sport with 4 and 6-rounders waiting for another big opportunity.
The ‘White Rhino’ was also exploring a fight with Fabio Wardley but the BBBofC asked Matchroom not to make a fight with Allen, per promoter Eddie Hearn.
Clarke went the ten-round distance for the first time in June at York Hall and the consensus was that the Olympian needed more rounds under his bank before challenging for significant titles, with the hope that Allen can provide just that.
Florian Marku vs Dylan Moran
Albania’s Florian Marku (12-0, 7 KOs) is will end a twelve-month layoff against Ireland’s Dylan Moran (18-1, 8 KOs).
Moran’s eighteen wins have come against insignificant opposition and it will be a step up for him but Marku’s last fight was one where many felt he was lucky to get the nod.
Mark Heffron vs Jack Cullen
Mark Heffron (29-2-1, 23 KOs) will defend his British Super Middleweight title against Jack Cullen (21-4-1, 9 KOs) in a fan-favourite domestic clash.
This fight was supposed to take place last year on the Joyce-Parker card with Cullen agreeing his side of the deal and training for the fight, but it fell apart.
Heffron withdrew from a fight with Zak Chelli on the Marshall-Crews-Dezurn undercard on a BOXXER show due to injury but will now defend his title against mandatory challenger Jack Cullen.
Cullen was brutally stopped inside four rounds by top prospect Diego Pacheco back in March.
Mikaela Mayer vs Silvia Bortor
Mikaela Mayer (18-1, 5 KOs), who held the WBO and IBF World Super-Featherweight Championships until an October 2022 loss to bitter rival Alycia Baumgardner, meets Silvia Bortot (11-2, 3 KOs) over ten rounds at Super Lightweight.
Prelims
2020 Olympic gold medalist Lauren Price (4-0, 1 KO) will return to the ring against an undetermined foe and Frankie Stringer takes on journeyman Christian Flores in a six-round Lightweight attraction.
Smith vs Eubank 2 Running Order
Pay Per View Card:
Liam Smith v Chris Eubank Jr.
12 Round Middleweight Bout
Adam Azim v Aram Fanyan
10 Round Super-Lightweight Bout
Frazer Clarke v David Allen
10 Round Heavyweight Bout
Mark Heffron v Jack Cullen
12 Round British Super-Middleweight Title Bout
Mikaela Mayer v Silvia Bortot
10 Round Super-Lightweight Bout
Florian Marku v Dylan Moran
10 Round Welterweight Bout
Sky Sports Stream
Lauren Price vs TBC
Welterweight Bout
Frankie Stringer vs Christian Flores
6 Round Lightweight Bout
Smith vs Eubank 2 Start Time, PPV Price, And TV Channel
Sky Sports Box Office will offer the rematch as a pay-per-view event for £19.95 in the UK. Fight fans in the United States can watch the action unfold on their ESPN+ subscription.
UK fans can catch the PPV portion of the show from 6 pm BST, the preliminary action on the Sky Sports Boxing YouTube channel is scheduled to begin at 5 pm BST. Main Event ring walks are expected around 10:30 pm BST.
The card starts at 2 pm ET (11 am PT) for fans in the US with the main event expected at around 5:30 pm ET (2:30 pm PT).