Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith in heated debate over decisive factor in rematch

Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jr debated the latter’s ‘intelligence’ as a boxer on Thursday, as the Britons engaged in a heated press conference ahead of their rematch. Smith stopped Eubank Jr in the fourth round in January, and the pair return to the AO Arena in Manchester for a middleweight rematch on Saturday . After a heated build to their first clash, the mood began to shift in the same way at Thursday’s press conference, as Smith took exception to a claim by Eubank Jr’s new coach, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre. ‘You class Chris as an intelligent fighter? That is one thing Chris is not,’ said Smith, 35, after a comment by McIntyre. ‘I’m definitely more intelligent than you, my friend,’ responded Eubank Jr, 33. Smith replied: ‘Results speak for themselves! You are trying to convince people you’re intelligent? You’ve been fit, you’ve been durable, you have an engine, but you’ve never been classed as intelligent.’ Eubank Jr hit back: ‘You have one form of fighting, I have many, so if we are going to talk about intelligence, there is no competition.’ Eubank Jr recruited McIntyre after the American’s role in Terence Crawford’s masterclass against Errol Spence Jr in July. While Roy Jones Jr, who coached Eubank Jr in his first fight with Smith, looked poised to throw in the towel before the referee stepped in, Eubank Jr vowed that there would be no chance of that happening on Saturday. ‘We are not going to look for the easy way out,’ he said. ‘If it gets rough, if it gets hairy, we are there for the long haul. We are going to get through it. ‘If there is going to be a towel involved in this fight, it will definitely be coming from the other corner. What happened in the last fight was not supposed to happen. Even to Liam – he may not admit it – but he was not expecting the fight to finish how it finished; nobody was. ‘I know I am the better fighter, and I am going to go out there and prove it on Saturday.’ Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos.