Liam Smith and Natasha Jonas both fight at the M&S Bank Arena in their home city of Liverpool tonight, live on Sky Sports.
Both are world level operators but each have different incentives in their respective fights.
Jonas is boxing Patricia Berghult to add the Swede’s WBC super-welterweight championship to the WBO belt she already holds. She has a major title to gain and her own legacy to secure.
Smith, a former world champion and well ranked with several of the major sanctioning bodies, is risking it all, putting his hopes of snaring another world title shot on the line against the dangerous Hassan Mwakinyo.
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“I’m happy that every time I’ve fought here in Liverpool I’ve been able to repay them with a win. Saturday’s going to be no different,” Smith promised.
Mwakinyo, on a 10-bout winning run, is heavy-handed. This opportunity against Smith is what he desperately needs, a long-awaited chance to catapult himself into the reckoning at world level. Mwakinyo may never get a shot like this again.
“This is make or break for him,” BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom told Sky Sports. “He’s looked good. He’s knocked out his last three opponents. So we know he can punch and he didn’t think he’d get the chance again in the UK in a big fight and he’s got one. So obviously for him this is everything.
“We know he’s ruthless. We know he boxes orthodox and southpaw,” Shalom continued. “It could be a banana skin. One punch can change everything. But I expect Liam to be focused. He’s professional. He’s seen everything. He knows boxing inside out. He’s had that many fights now, he knows what he’s doing now and I expect him to come through
“I do think Liam Smith is such a quality operator people don’t realise how good he is. There’s levels in boxing and I think he is a different level to most other fighters.”
Callum Smith, Liam Smith’s brother, is also a former world champion looking to secure a world title shot. He blasted through Mathieu Bauderlique in four rounds on the Anthony Joshua-Oleksandr Usyk undercard two weeks ago.
Naturally he’s backing his brother to win tonight in Liverpool but anticipates a similarly exciting performance.
“He’s kind of developed a style that he’s very good at and a lot of his fights are similar, educated pressure. He’s very clever with how he does it and he seems to just make his opponents throw when they don’t want to throw, fight at a pace they don’t want to fight at, to a point where they start to tire late on and he seems to get better,” the younger Smith said.
“Hassan is pretty dangerous, heavy-handed, so Liam’s got to be a little bit smart, not take anything silly and then I think as the fight goes on Liam will start chipping away and take over.
“In boxing we’ve seen more and more upsets recently and you’ve just got to make sure one of them isn’t your fight. You’ve got to be switched on.
“He is aware of the dangers Hassan brings,” he added. “I’m sure we’ll see a big performance from him.”
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Another impressive display should secure Liam Smith a major fight next.
He is on the cusp of a shot at one of the super-welterweight world titles. All those belts though are currently held by undisputed champion Jermell Charlo.
Smith could be waiting a long time to get a shot at Charlo and those belts of his. But there’s a wider range of options for him. This fight against Mwakinyo has been made above the super-welterweight limit and how Smith performs here could encourage a move up to middleweight.
“He’s ready for a world title. But for him at this stage of his career, he just wants the biggest fights possible. Whether that’s a world title or whether that’s a big name [or] a big domestic name. He’s happy to move up in weight,” his promoter Ben Shalom said.
“He’s ready for those big fights and they’ll be a lot bigger because of Saturday night.”
Talks for a fight with Chris Eubank Jr might even be rekindled. “Nothing’s ever dead,” Shalom said. “The problem is Liam Smith’s a tough fight for everyone.
“There are a lot of opportunities. He’s well rated. He’s well ranked. He is in a good position for a world title. World titles, Eubank, other big domestic fights, there are a few [options].”
At middleweight Janibek Alimkhanuly this week has been elevated from ‘interim’ to full WBO champion without a fight. The Kazakh is proving hard to match. But Shalom considers Smith to be fearless.
“I don’t think Janibek is a fight he would avoid,” Shalom said. “Liam wouldn’t turn down any fight, especially for a world title, Janibek is probably the most avoided fighter in the world at the moment, genuinely. Everyone’s trying to jump out of the way of that one. Eubank could have taken it for a world title, [Demetrius] Andrade’s moving around.
“It’s one that genuine middleweights don’t want but Liam Smith is as I said a world-class operator and he would look at any fight with confidence. He’s going to have options.”
Natasha Jonas jumped up three weight classes to win a world title and is attempting to unify in her very next fight (Photo: Lawrence Lustig/BOXXER)
‘It will be incredible if Jonas can do it’
Natasha Jonas is already a world champion who’s operating outside of her natural weight class. As tough a fight as rival titlist Patricia Berghult could be, Jonas still doesn’t intend to stop there.
“People said we were crazy having her jump up three weight divisions to the world title. She did it. If she hadn’t looked so good on that night then maybe we would have had criticism. Now she wants to unify, it’s incredible,” promoter Ben Shalom said.
“A constant theme through Tasha’s career is she just wants the big fights, she doesn’t care. She’ll jump in with anyone, even three weights above her. This is a genuine super-welterweight world champion and a very, very classy operator that’s never lost. It’s a 50-50 fight.
“It’s a very, very tough fight and it would be incredible if she could do it.”
If she does prevail, she could look to become a multi-division champion by moving back down in weight.
“She wants to go back down to where she feels comfortable, maybe somewhere like 140lbs, there are big fights there and 147lbs,” Shalom said.
“Let’s see how this fight goes. It’s a big fight, it’s a tough ask but there’s plenty more fights left in Tasha. I think she feels that now. She’s confident. She’s got the platform to do what she wants to do and get the fights that she wants and there are some big fights for her at 147lbs, some big fights for her at 140 and I think that will be next.”
As well Jonas-Berghult, the Smith-Mwakinyo bill features British champion Dan Azeez vs Shakan Pitters, Frazer Clarke, Adam Azim and more live on Sky Sports Arena from 7pm and also on Sky Sports Main Event at 9.30pm tonight.
The biggest fight in the history of women’s boxing – Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall – is live on Sky Sports on Saturday September 10. Be part of history and buy tickets for the London showdown here.