On Saturday 5th February, two boxers that have been embroiled in a heated feud for some time will finally get a chance to settle the issue at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff.
Chris Eubank Jr will take on Liam Williams in what promises to be a really intriguing grudge fight at Middleweight.
For the past 12 months, the two fighters have become embroiled in a fierce war of words, each arguing that they are the dominant British middleweight.
After a testy press conference and face-off earlier this week, which saw the boxers refuse to shake hands, Chris Eubank and Liam Williams will finally lace up the gloves and do battle as the top billing on a fantastic card of fights this weekend.
As is customary with its boxing coverage, you can get the latest odds with bet365 Sport on the fight, with the bookmaker offering a wide choice of pre-bout boxing and MMA bets and of course, you can tune in to the site when the fight gets underway to enjoy its extensive Live Betting services too.
And don’t forget, you can also follow boxing from around the world as one of many sports that are part of the bet365 Live Streaming service that is available on the site and which is free if you have a credit balance on your account, or have placed a bet in the preceding 24-hour period.
Let’s now take a look at the card for Saturday night’s action in Cardiff.
Cardiff Fight Card
- Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Williams (Middleweight)
- Claressa Shields vs Ema Kozin (World Middleweight Title Bout)
- Samuel Antwi vs Conah Walker (Welterweight – English Title Bout)
- Chris Jenkins vs Julius Indongo (Welterweight)
- Rhys Edwards vs Ruslan Berchuck (Featherweight)
- Steve Robinson vs Shane Gill (Heavyweight)
- Caroline Dubois vs Vaida Masiokaite (Super-Bantamweight)
- Harlem Eubank vs Viorel Simion (Super-Lightweight)
- Otto Wallin vs Kamil Sokolowski (Heavyweight)
There are some very intriguing other bouts ahead of the Main Event on Saturday night. Harlem Eubank, Chris Eubank Jr’s cousin, will try to keep his unbeaten record intact against Viorel Simion, while two intriguing heavyweight bouts will see the big guys in the ring.
There will be a lot of interest in the power-hitting Geordie Steve Robinson, who has won three of his four professional fights in spectacular and hard-hitting style and he will be looking for a quick evening’s work against Shane Gill.
Otto Wallin will face Kamil Sokolowski in the other heavyweight battle as a late addition to the card between two talented European-level contenders.
There are several other Welsh boxers in action to delight the Cardiff crowd with Rhys Edwards and Chris Jenkins both representing the host nation with the unbeaten Edwards trying to improve his record at Featherweight.
There is talk that Floyd Mayweather may well be in attendance at the event at the weekend, chiefly to see Claressa Shields, the self-styled GWOAT (Greatest Woman Of All Time) defend her WBA, WBC and IBF middleweight titles against the WFC Champion Ema Kozin.
This will likely be Shields’ final fight before she turns her attention to Savannah Marshall to try and unify all the belts in the middleweight division. That fight, which looks likely to take place in mid 2022, is one of the most eagerly anticipated in women’s boxing history.
However, it is the main event that is likely to draw the most interest on the night with Liam Williams likely to enjoy plenty of home support as the Welshman finally gets his chance to take on Eubank Jr. to prove who is the best British middleweight at present.
Eubank v Williams – A History
Having seen this fight postponed twice before, once in December due to Williams having a shoulder injury and then on the 29th January this year when the British Boxing Board of Control postponed all fights scheduled for January as a Covid-19 circuit breaker, it’s fair to say that both these boxers are itching for a return to the ring.
There’s plenty on the line for both. A defeat for either would make a comeback towards the top levels of the sport at World level very tough.
Land a win, and that boxer will likely be eyeing up a shot at a World title sooner rather than later.
Eubank starts the fight as the favourite with bet365 Sport and quite a heavy one at 3/10 to win the fight with Williams ranked as the 12/5 outsider.
In terms of how the fight will end, a decision or technical decision is rated as by far the most likely prospect at 13/8 in Eubank’s favour.
If we are going to see a knockout then anywhere between Round 6 and 10 seems to be where the money is going with all options on a Eubank knockout in these five rounds all coming in at 14/1.
Bad Blood
The postponement of their fight twice now does seem to have led to some bad blood between the pair.
With several verbal barbs uttered between the two in 2021, things came to a head over the festive period this year when Williams made a number of offensive and provocative Tweets about Eubank Jr. after he appeared in an interview with Sky Sports that was released on Christmas Day.
Eubank Jr. then addressed these Tweets in a press conference in which he said that this had made their bout ‘personal’ and the two boxers also refused to shake hands in what was a visibly strained and tense press conference.
The two also clashed in a war of words on a Sky Sports preview show with Johnny Nelson as the host, in which Eubank Jr. claimed that in-person Williams “had no comebacks’ and that he was just a “true-life keyboard warrior.”
With public workouts scheduled for later today in Cardiff, the excitement is only set to build over the next couple of days as we head towards the fight, which is being shown live on Sky Sports and which is promoted by Boxxer.
Who Wins Eubank vs Williams?
Eubank Jr (31-2, 23 KOs) is the more experienced fighter compared to Williams (23-3-1, 18 KOs) and it is clear that his work with Roy Jones Jr. has seen him adopt a more measured approach in his fights.
That may well be to his benefit here against Liam Williams, who is known to be ready for a tear up and who will seek to push Eubank Jr. into fighting the fight that Williams wants.
The Welshman will have strong home support on his side and he is a dangerous opponent, plus he has more than enough power to cause Eubank issues.
However, Eubank is the bigger man and while his punching power is suspect at the very highest level, he still has enough to cause Williams problems.
I see this fight going at least into the late rounds and maybe all the way to the judges scorecards and it could be a close one as I can see Eubank doing the cleaner work, but maybe Williams earning his share of the rounds due to his pressure and workrate.
I think Eubank Jr will just about do enough to win and I think he will do so via a Split Decision, which is a 17/2 option with bet365 Sport.
Tune in Saturday night to see the fight live on Sky Sports in the UK.