Former British and Commonwealth Featherweight Champion Stephen Smith is backing stablemate John Murray to victory this weekend in New York.

Liverpool star Smith, 26, has been training with Murray in the build up and says he is looking impressive ahead of his fight against WBA World Lightweight Champion Brandon Rios at Madison Square Garden, live on BoxNation (Sky Platform Ch. 456).

"I've been with John throughout his training camp and he's been looking great and he's got the hunger in his eyes to win this fight," said Smith. 

He admits he took Kevin Mitchell too lightly so he's really knuckled down for this world title challenge to prove the doubters wrong.

"John's got a hard fight on his hands. Rios is a worthy champion, he's big and strong, but he's there to be hit.  John won't have to go looking for him and he'll have more success going toe-to-toe with him - John's hard to beat in those type of fights. 

"He's got to stay sharp and switched on and land plenty of shots on Rios, but I can see him coming out of New York a winner."

Smith is also on the comeback trail after he lost his titles to Lee Selby in a thriller back in September and features in an eight-round contest at the Liverpool Echo Arena on Friday 9th December - also live on BoxNation.

He added, "Like John I'm coming back from a loss and I'm looking to get a rematch with Selby next year and get my titles back. I made plenty of mistakes in that fight that I shouldn't have made and I paid for it, but I'm back and I've got to prove people wrong."

"I'm just looking forward to getting back in the ring and return to winning performances."