Liam Smith could face action from the British Boxing Board of Control after he goaded Chris Eubank Jr at Thursday’s press conference by inferring that Eubank was gay.
Sky Sports presenter Anna Woolhouse apologized for the “homophobic” remarks after an exchange between the pair about sending each other direct messages turned ugly, with Smith saying Eubank was never seen with women and asking: “Do you want to tell us something?”
The BBBoC looks set to take action that could lead to a charge of misconduct against Smith, although Eubank could be sanctioned too for his part.
A statement was issued on Friday: “The British Boxing Board of Control are aware of the comments made by Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jnr. at yesterday's press conference, and the Stewards of The Board will be considering the conduct of both Boxers directly.”
It is normally the way in boxing that people go low when there are tickets of pay-per-views to shift, but the moment was an embarrassment to Sky Sports and promoter Ben Shalom.
“Tensions were high and the fighters have apologized. Liam has apologized,” Shalom said.
“Well that escalated quickly,” Eubank said on Twitter.
The two have been needling each other since the fight- which takes place in Manchester on Saturday – was announced.
Smith has insisted that Eubank has not got under his skin, but when Eubank accused him of sending direct messages to Eubank’s social media accounts, saying he was more used to getting DMs from women, Smith bit, saying that nobody ever saw Eubank with women.
“Because you’re 33.” Smith said. “Do you want to tell us something? Because nobody in this room has ever seen you with a woman.”
“Listen, my private life is my private life,” Eubank Jr replied. “That's irrelevant to the boxing, but I’m happy, I'm comfortable.”
After Smith again asked: “Do you have something you want to tell us?”, Eubank replied: “It’s a very personal question to ask me directly. You can slide in my DMs or you can do it right now.
“I used to think Tony Bellew was the biggest arsehole to come out of Liverpool, but at this stage Liam has definitely taken that number-one slot. It’s impressive.”
Despite broadcaster Andy Scott’s attempts to steer the conference another way, the pair returned to the subject, as Eubank accused Smith of cheating on his wife.
“If you want to get dark and personal with it, talking about being gay and do I like girls? I've been told by multiple sources that you cheat on your wife on occasion,” Eubank said. “I’d rather be gay than a cheat.”
Smith later admitted he had “crossed a line," while Eubank said he had embarrassed himself.
Smith told Press Association: “Its crossed a line and for people looking at it, it’s wrong. We shouldn't act like that. It's fight week, we're both starving and making weight. If anyone took it personally, I apologize.
“It was always going to get a little bit heated like that. At the end of the day it’s just words. Just take it with a pinch of salt.”
Eubank said: “This is boxing, this is the entertainment business, this is the fight game and this is real. People react to fighting a man in different ways.
"He embarrassed himself up there but it’s OK. We're going to fight it out and settle our differences in a couple of days’ time.”
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.
