Chris Eubank Jr knocks out Liam Smith and floors him with brutal uppercut, but Tony Bellew suggests Smith suffered ankle injury midway through fight

Chris Eubank Jr got revenge over Liam Smith by knocking him out in the tenth round of their rematch.

The pair clashed earlier this year and Smith won by knockout, but this time, Eubank got the stoppage, knocking his opponent down twice in the process, as he put on a punch perfect performance.

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Although there was some suggestion that Smith may have suffered an injury mid-fight that affected him.

Former cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew tweeted: “Something isn’t right with Liam’s left leg and it’s clear as day! I don’t know what it is but his left leg or ankle is in a bad way.”

He added after the fight: “He won’t make excuses Liam as it’s not his way but anyone who knows boxing or knows him knows that something was clearly up from round 2 onwards! Credit to Chris Eubank for getting back in there with him but for me that wasn’t the Liam Smith we all know!”

But, ultimately Eubank was the better man on the night.

The fight began quite messily, as both fighters found themselves in the clinch a lot in round one and the work on the inside from there was not exactly pleasing to the eye.

Through two rounds, Eubank was enjoying the better of the action, but there wasn’t much between the two fighters.

Smith did find himself on the canvas right at the end of round two, but it was rightly not ruled a knockdown by the referee.

Eubank then began to up his punch output, as he showed off his dazzling hand speed, with Smith offering little in return.

And in the same round that Smith KO’d Eubank in their first fight, this time it was the Liverpudlian who found himself on the canvas in the fourth following a crushing uppercut.

Smith made it back to his feet, but he looked on unsteady legs for the majority of the rest of the round, although Eubank did not capitalise as much as might have been expected.

In round five, Eubank picked up where he left off, unleashing a barrage of eye-catching punches that pinned Smith against the ropes, but once again the Liverpudlian remained resolute and stayed in there.

The pace slowed in round six, as both men had clearly expended a lot of energy and needed some time to recover.

At this point, it became more obvious that Smith was potentially dealing with an issue in his ankle, as pointed out by Bellew, but either way he was comfortably losing the fight and needed a knockout if he was going to get the win.

Smith just couldn’t find a rhythm, as Eubank kept him at the end of his jab, cruising along and winning round after round.

In round ten, Eubank came out with a vengeance and put Smith down again and this time he certainly did capitalise, as shortly after the referee stepped in to wave off the fight.

Smith said post-fight: “I was just flat from the start.

“I think the weight killed me a little bit and I was just flat from the get-go and Chris was sharp.

“I couldn’t move my feet back and when I did move my feet back I rolled my ankle. It’s just one of them things, Chris was the better man tonight, that’s it.

“I shout when I win, I’ll take the defeat when I lose.”