Chris Eubank Jr wore a rainbow armband on the scales as he weighed in for Saturday’s fight with Liam Smith in Manchester as a row over homophobic taunting threatens to overshadow the fight.
Smith implied that Eubank was gay at Thursday’s press conference in response to Eubank calling Smith out over sending him a direct message on social media, when he claimed that most direct messages he received were from women.
The armband in support of LGBT+ rights was similar to the ones that FIFA banned players from waring at the football World Cup in Qatar.
Eubank, who also wore a Manchester United shirt (the big rivals of Smith’s favourite team Liverpool), weighed 11st 5lb (159 pounds), exactly the same as Smith, the former WBO super-welterweight champion. How both boxers perform at the weight has been a major point of contention, with Smith moving up in weight, while Eubank has boxed at super-middleweight.
There were no words between the pair as the posed for the cameras until they went face to face when, after a lengthy stare-off, Eubank spoke to Smith, who responded in detail.
“I just said ‘you made it personal, if you want to make it personal I will, don’t think I won’t’,” Smith said. “I just told Chris that he made it personal yesterday on a couple of things, bringing my family into it, trying to slam my city, Liverpool, he’s in for a rude awakening tomorrow, let me tell you.
“(Making weight) was a little bit easier, energy-level wise, but it was still coming down to 160. Don’t be fooled that because this is at 160 tomorrow that size is going to be a big issue.”
Smith described Eubank as a clown and said he had no doubts he would win.
“I was 100 percent confident, I can’t be no more confident than that. I was 100 percent confident when the fight was put to me, the camp I have had, the condition I am in, I'm 1000 percent confident one day before the fight.”
Eubank claimed he had no problem making weight. “The KFC was great last night, I enjoyed it, I made the weight in excellent fashion and I can’t wait to go tomorrow,” Eubank said. “We’re at the full 50 percent now and that is what it will take to beat that man. I saw in his eyes on the stage there he doesn’t want to be here. He is going to be in for a shock.
“I guess the antics leading up to this fight have made me a bit hungrier, there is a little more needle in it now. He has made it personal, so I am going to go out and enjoy the punishment that I dish out. Now it is not just business, now it is personal.”
Eubank said he hoped for a stoppage win to set up a fight with Gennady Golovkin.
“We go out there each and every time to take these guys out. I’ve got to win in devastating fashion so that I can go on and face the big names in the division, ie Triple G.”
On the undercard, Joseph Parker, the former WBO heavyweight champion, will have a 32-pound advantage for his fight with Jack Massey. Parker weight 17 stone 7 pounds 5 ounces (245 pounds 5 ounces), while former cruiserweight Massey scaled 15 stone 3 pounds 5 ounces (213 pounds 5 ounces).
Ekow Essuman weighed 10 stone 6 pounds (146 pounds) for his British and Commonwealth welterweight title defence against Chris Kongo, who was 5 ounces heavier.
Unbeaten cruiserweight Richard Riakporhe scaled 14 stone 3 pounds 5 ounces (199 pounds 5 ounces) for his fight with former WBO champion Krzysztof Glowacki, who scaled three pounds lighter.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.