LIVERPOOL-Liam Smith takes on Hassan Mwakinyo this Saturday at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool as he takes on his second fight of the year having beaten Jessie Vargas in his last fight to win the vacant WBO Inter-Continental light-middleweight title back in April.
Liam Mark Smith is a British professional boxer. He held the WBO
light-middleweight title from 2015 to 2016, and previously the British
and Commonwealth light-middleweight titles between 2012 and 2015.
Natasha Jonas also fights on the card against Patricia Berghult hoping to retain her WBO & WBA Super-Welterweight titles.
Smith will now be targeting some big-names as he lines up a world title shot, having previously held the WBO light-middleweight title between 2015 & 2016.
He also says that Chris Eubank Jr is on his radar, with the pair both having a connection through their promoter and Smith saying that the fight would be 'easy' to make.
Smith said at the fight-week press conference: "I don't want to sit here and keep having tick-over fights and keep getting little paychecks here and there," He added. "I want to have a huge fight people will talk about or I want to challenge for a world title again.
“It wasn’t a proper finish, really,” admitted Smith. “I landed a couple of shots in round three and it was over in round four. I told him straight he quit and you don’t have to be a genius to see that. I never even got going, I knew he was going to be wild early on and then I was going to take over. Just get me a big fight.”
Smith began the fourth by putting more pressure on Mwakinyo, but backed into a corner, the Tanzanian landed a good right uppercut.
The follow-up punches seemed to miss, but as Smith backed him into the corner again, Mwakinyo seemed to go down to one knee. Smith opened up before referee Victor Loughlin counted it as a knockdown, much to Mwakinyo’s annoyance, as he seemed to indicate he went down because his gumshield had come out, although replays indicated he spat it out deliberately.
Mwakinyo, 27, who trains in Miami, had won on his previous trip to the UK, when he stunned Sam Eggington in 2018. He had been out of the ring exactly one year since stopping faded former world champion Julius Indongo.
Smith, 34, was having his first fight since signing with BOXXER, having beaten Jessie Vargas in New York in April. His only defeat in six fights since losing a decision to Jaime Munguia for the WBO in 2018 came in a highly debatable decision to Magomed Kurbanov in Moscow. (Agencies)
He also says that Chris Eubank Jr is on his radar, with the pair both having a connection through their promoter and Smith saying that the fight would be 'easy' to make.
Smith said at the fight-week press conference: "I don't want to sit here and keep having tick-over fights and keep getting little paychecks here and there," He added. "I want to have a huge fight people will talk about or I want to challenge for a world title again.
“It wasn’t a proper finish, really,” admitted Smith. “I landed a couple of shots in round three and it was over in round four. I told him straight he quit and you don’t have to be a genius to see that. I never even got going, I knew he was going to be wild early on and then I was going to take over. Just get me a big fight.”
Smith began the fourth by putting more pressure on Mwakinyo, but backed into a corner, the Tanzanian landed a good right uppercut.
The follow-up punches seemed to miss, but as Smith backed him into the corner again, Mwakinyo seemed to go down to one knee. Smith opened up before referee Victor Loughlin counted it as a knockdown, much to Mwakinyo’s annoyance, as he seemed to indicate he went down because his gumshield had come out, although replays indicated he spat it out deliberately.
Mwakinyo, 27, who trains in Miami, had won on his previous trip to the UK, when he stunned Sam Eggington in 2018. He had been out of the ring exactly one year since stopping faded former world champion Julius Indongo.
Smith, 34, was having his first fight since signing with BOXXER, having beaten Jessie Vargas in New York in April. His only defeat in six fights since losing a decision to Jaime Munguia for the WBO in 2018 came in a highly debatable decision to Magomed Kurbanov in Moscow. (Agencies)