Colin Hart: Boxing chiefs must get tough on trash-talking… Liam Smith deserves a stiff penalty for unsavoury Eubank row
BOXING has now given Liverpool another Fab Four who rival The Beatles in bringing pride and glory to the people of Merseyside.
Brothers Paul, Stephen, Liam and Callum Smith — with a mixture of skill, courage, dedication and integrity over the last 20 years — have brought nothing but honour to themselves, their city and their sport.
Between them, they’ve won British, Commonwealth, European and world titles and dozens of championship belts.
Having interviewed the conquering quartet many times they have always shown the utmost respect for their opponents.
That is why I found it so shocking Liam — completely out of character — tarnished his impeccable reputation by attacking Chris Eubank Jr with homophobic insults at a press conference before their fight last Saturday.
Liam soon realised he was way out of order and had the good grace and sense to apologise profusely for his remarks.
The 34-year-old former WBO world light-middleweight champ said: “I apologise to anyone offended by what I said — I’m not homophobic in any way, shape or form.”
Eubank Jr allowed himself to be provoked and retaliated with obnoxious accusations of infidelity by his rival.
At least after Smith had blitzed his way to a shock fourth-round win they ended up hugging each other in the ring to put their unacceptable behaviour behind them.
But that does not mean this particular unsavoury episode is over.
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The pair have been summoned by British Boxing Board of Control stewards to appear before a disciplinary hearing next month.
When Tyson Fury previously faced a similar charge for a repulsive rant at a press conference he got a hefty fine.
And although Liam has not stepped out of line before in a 15-year pro career he also deserves to receive a stiff penalty — if only as a deterrent to others.
It is about time the Board got tough with fighters over this modern trash-talking trend that seems to be getting increasingly out of hand.
Promoters and TV executives love it as they feel that kind of provocative behaviour increases ticket sales and pay-per-view buys.
Yet it has been the case that if a fight is attractive enough it will still sell out before either boxer has said a word.
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There appears to be a growing resentment among fans about the increase in the number of fights that can be seen only on PPV — many with no justification.
A recent letter in Boxing News from a Chris Kyle summed it up.
He wrote: “I’m at a loss to justify why I’m paying Sky and BT £20 per month for 30 days of sports in the hope that they may show at least one decent boxing show that comes included with my subscription fee.”
Referring to the non-title clash between Smith and Eubank Jr that cost £19.95 on Sky Sports PPV, he added: “With the greatest respect to both fighters, this is hardly a battle the world has been crying out for.”
But as it turned out the majority who paid no doubt thought they had got value for their money as they saw a surprise upset and a spectacular knockout.
It’s interesting unbeaten Artur Beterbiev — one of the world’s elite fighters who has won all his 18 fights by KO — defends his WBC, IBF and WBO world light-heavyweight titles against Anthony Yarde tomorrow.
It is live on BT yet it isn’t on PPV, so that will certainly please Mr Kyle.
Brit Yarde must be given the proverbial puncher’s chance but Russian-born Canadian Beterbiev is a massive 1-8 favourite and everything points to the Ilford man being another of our gallant losers.