The bout between Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jr. that has already been postponed once from June 17th to July 1st will be postponed again and moved to August, per the latest reports. Savannah Marshall will now headline the fight card together with undisputed Super Middleweight champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn. Their match and the rest of the fights on the undercard will continue to commence on July 1st at the Manchester Arena in Manchester.
The reason for the cancellation is that it has been estimated that Liam Smith (33-3-1, 20 KO’s) won’t recover on time to face Chris Eubank Jr. (32-3, 23 KO’s) at full health. Smith was apparently unable to participate in his training camp for Eubank Jr. due to lingering injury issues, which prompted the postponement of his bout with the former IBO (International Boxing Organization) Middleweight champion.
“I asked BOXXER to put a big card together for this pay-per-view rematch with Chris Eubank Jr and they more than delivered, so I’m honestly delighted that BOXXER is keeping the card together – most promoters wouldn’t do that, I think,” Smith said in an interview with Sky Sports.
“I’ll heal up now and then the fully-fit Liam Smith will be back later this year to give Chris his second beating.”
While the promoters of both fighters will be sorting out a new date, Savannah Marshall (12-1, 10 KO’s) and Franchon Crews-Dezurn (8-1, 2 KO’s) will be main-eventing on the 1st of July in a match where all of Dezurn’s Super Middleweight titles will be put on the line. Beating Dezurn will there allow Savannah Marshall to become undisputed; a feat that she only recently missed out on after losing to Claressa Shields by unanimous decision while fighting at Middleweight in October of last year.
Unified Super Welterweight champion Natasha Jonas (13-2-1, 8 KO’s) will also be involved on the card but her next opponent has yet to be announced. Further aiding the fight card will be a British Super Middleweight contest for the BBBofC’s (British Boxing Board of Control) British title between Mark Heffron (29-2-1, 32 KO’s) and Zak Chelli (13-1-1, 6 KO’s).
