CHRIS EUBANK JR VS CONOR BENN - FULL UNDERCARD PREVIEW

A majority of eyes may well be on the highly anticipated main event on Saturday night, but prior to that, there is a thrilling four-fight undercard to cast your beady boxing eyes on.

Up first is the first of two cruiserweight contests, where former world champion Chris Billam-Smith will be looking to bounce back from his defeat to Zurdo Ramirez against the twice-beaten Brandon Glanton.

Chris Billam-Smith vs Brandon Glanton

Widely regarded as one of the more exciting British boxers of the past decade, Chris Billam-Smith’s career has had plenty of highs and lows. After winning his first ten fights, nine by stoppage, he suffered the first loss of his career to Richard Riakporhe.

He then went on an 11-fight win streak which saw him become WBO World, British, Commonwealth and European champion. However, that run came to an end in his last fight when he was comprehensively dethroned by the Mexican Gilberto Ramirez.

American Glanton has flown under the radar far more than Billam-Smith since making his pro debut back in 2017.

Now 20-2, his most notable victory to date came in his last fight when he stopped Russian Aleksi Egorov while seemingly behind on the cards and fighting on away soil.

It’ll be interesting to see how Billam-Smith bounces back from his defeat to Ramirez, but if he is anywhere near his best, he should have enough to deal with the power of the hard-hitting Glanton and work his way to a comfortable points win.

Cheavon Clarke vs Viddal Riley – Vacant British Cruiserweight Title

In the second of the two 200lbs contests on Saturday night, domestic rivals Viddal Riley and Cheavon Clarke face off for the vacant British Cruiserweight Title.

Both solid amateurs, the pair had similar starts to life in the pro ranks. However, former British champ Clarke suffered the first defeat of his career in his last fight, losing out to Leonardo Mosquea for the vacant European Title.

Now up against Riley, who has picked up the English Cruiserweight Title on his way to 12 wins from his first 12 contests, it leaves us with a more than intriguing match-up.

Riley has yet to be truly tested as a professional so far, and it’s fair to say Clarke has fought at a much higher level.

The former champion will be looking to establish that stiff jab to work behind and get inside Riley’s reach advantage.

For Riley, he needs to box smart and try to walk Chev onto something big, or quite simply try to pick him off on the back foot.

Either way, these are two lads who can really fight, and a defeat here could be detrimental to the careers of both fighters.

Anthony Yarde vs Lyndon Arthur 3

Onto the light-heavies now, and for the first time in a while, we get to witness a domestic trilogy as Anthony Yarde faces off with Lyndon Arthur for the third time.

After Arthur got the better of Yarde at the end of 2020, the former world title challenger righted his wrongs less than a year later by stopping Arthur inside four rounds.

It was an intriguing rivalry with plenty of verbal warfare in the build-up – more so from their trainers Tunde Ajayi and Pat Barrett – but still enough to create plenty of hype amongst the boxing faithful.

Now, over three years on, we get to see it all again, and we finally get a definitive answer as to who really is the better fighter of the two.

How does Yarde win? It’s simple – he needs to put it on Arthur from the off, like he did in the rematch. He can’t let Lyndon establish that superb jab and then get reckless, because as we saw in the first fight, that plays right into Arthur’s hands.

For Arthur, he needs to be far more switched on than he was in the second fight. He probably didn’t expect Yarde to come out firing like he did, so he needs to get on the back foot, get the jab going and start to work Yarde’s body – because as we’ve seen many times before, Yarde’s chin is made of stern stuff.

It’ll be an intriguing contest and one that could go either way, with the winner potentially booking themselves a world title shot if a belt becomes vacant after the trilogy between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Liam Smith vs Aaron McKenna

In a classic example of experience versus youth, former world champion Liam Smith clashes with the undefeated Aaron McKenna in a fight that will undoubtedly deliver.

A fighter who is rarely in a dull bout, Smith has pretty much done it all in boxing – from winning British and World Titles to sharing the ring with the likes of Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia in packed-out arenas.

His last fight came back in April 2023, when he suffered a tricky stoppage defeat to Eubank Jr.

Smith, who was struggling with injuries in the build-up, never looked himself from the first bell, and it was clear those issues were playing a real factor in his performance.

Here though, he returns fresh off an 18-month layoff and ready to put it all on the line against Ireland’s Aaron McKenna.

Now 19-0 with ten stoppages, the 25-year-old McKenna has been fairly inactive himself – having fought 14 times in his first four years as a pro, but just five times in the last three. And here against Smith, he takes an enormous step up in class.

The much bigger man with a three-inch height advantage and six-inch reach advantage, McKenna is going to have to keep this fight long.

Smith has built up a reputation for grinding down his opponents – as seen against the likes of Anthony Fowler and Jessie Vargas – and taking them into deep waters.

He’s had more scheduled 12-rounders than McKenna has had fights, and he’s gone the distance in five of those. By contrast, McKenna has only ever gone past eight rounds twice in his career.

It’s this sort of experience that may prove the difference on fight night.

McKenna will have the speed and reach advantage, that’s one thing for sure, and he’ll need to use that for as long as he can without getting dragged into a dog fight.

Beefy will have to call on all of his old tricks and wisdom to find a way inside that long jab and put a dent in the Irishman.

This really is one of those fights where any result wouldn’t shock you.

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