Liam Smith to rematch Chris Eubank Jr on June 17 in Manchester live on Sky Sports Box Office | Boxing News

Liam Smith will rematch Chris Eubank Jr on June 17, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

The huge night of action headlines by Smith vs Eubank II is set for the AO Arena in Manchester.

Smith and Eubank developed a fierce rivalry which began with a bitterly contested sparring session and continued when Smith, a former super-welterweight world champion, stepped up to 160lbs to fight Eubank Jr in January.

Smith won the first bout with a spectacular knockout finish in the fourth round.

That was the standout moment in Smith’s career so far, even though the Liverpool man was already a highly decorated professional fighter.

Smith, now a 34-year-old veteran, made his professional debut in 2008. He won the British and Commonwealth titles and in 2015 stopped Apollo Thompson in Manchester to win the WBO super-welterweight world title.

He made two successful defences of the world championship before travelling to Texas in 2016 to fight Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Alvarez, who would go on to win a world title at light-heavyweight and go undisputed at super-middleweight, halted Smith.

But the Liverpudlian rebuilt. He picked up two wins over Liam Williams before challenging Jaime Munguia for his old world title.

He was denied in Las Vegas but continued to improve. A hotly disputed decision went against him when he fought Magomed Kurbanov in Russia in 2021.

Then Smith stopped his home town rival, Olympian Anthony Fowler at Liverpool’s Echo Arena.

In 2022 he fought Jesse Vargas, a former world champion who had fought Manny Pacquiao. Smith hammered the American at Madison Square Garden in New York.

He returned to Liverpool to move up to middleweight when he overwhelmed Hassan Mwakinyo later that year.

But despite that track record of accomplishment, few expected him to handle Eubank Jr in the manner that he did in January.

Eubank himself described the finishing blow Smith landed as a “once in a lifetime” shot.

It was Eubank Jr who activated the rematch clause in their contract and after a period of negotiation the second fight has been set for June 17, exclusively on Sky Sports Box Office, at the Manchester Arena once again.

The Brighton star is taking a risk by going into an immediate rematch with Smith but believes that he can secure his revenge when they fight a second time.

Eubank Jr has been a professional fighter for more than 10 years and has been fighting at a high level since he boxed Billy Joe Saunders for the British, Commonwealth and European middleweight titles in 2014.

He lost a close call in that fight but bounced back with a run of six stoppage victories.

Eubank Jr beat former WBO super-middleweight world champion Arthur Abraham before entering the World Boxing Super Series. He scored a stunning knockout victory over Avni Yildirim to win his first bout in that tournament.

Despite a strong finish, he lost a unanimous decision to George Groves when he challenged him for the WBA super-middleweight title.

He came back from that well, manhandling James DeGale, the two-time super-middleweight world champion, to record one of the best wins in his career.

Eubank Jr took another key victory when he beat Matvey Korobov in Brooklyn. Last year he set himself up for the Smith fight when he beat Liam Williams in Cardiff, dropping the Welshman four times en route to a unanimous decision win.

Liam Smith is certain he can repeat his victory in their June 17 rematch. Eubank Jr, training with coach Roy Jones Jr in Las Vegas, is determined to prove he can reverse the result and put himself on course for further world level fights.

Whoever of them comes through, their second collision is bound to be explosive.