Chris Eubank Jnr’s world-class showing put smiles back on faces of fans – and his father

Chris Eubank Jnr just happens to be a great salesman when it comes to promoting his fights but the one-sided beating of his nemesis Liam Smith in a sold-out night of pandemonium at the Manchester Arena on Saturday was arguably the most accomplished performance and moment of the 33-year-old’s career.

Coming back from adversity and given the situation – against a man who had shockingly stopped him eight months ago – this was genuine substance over style. And how Eubank needed it. Given to braggadocio, hubris stalks him like a shadow. For months, Eubank had questioned himself. Against Smith, he answered all those doubts. In droves. It has perhaps been a blessing and a curse that Junior carries the name ‘Eubank’, synonymous with stirring nights in British rings and epic fights and pronouncements involving his father, Chris Eubank Snr, a one-off both in the ring and out of it, and a unique and now beloved character.

How much, moreover, is Eubank Jnr doing in the ring to prove something to his father, who would, as he revealed last week, drop him off at private school in Brighton on the school run driving a very large truck, wearing jodhpurs and sporting a monocle. Eubank Jnr has already had box office fights, over 30 contests, has independent wealth, and does not need to put himself in harms way in a ring.

But still, as he told Telegraph Sport on Saturday night: “My life is boxing”.

Eubank was world class in this fight, and no wonder he called out Gennady Golovkin, a modern great in the middleweight division and a fighter who the Briton has long pursued, along with Kell Brook and Conor Benn. Eubank set himself up for more box office contests after this. And yet a world title still eludes him. Who knows, Eubank on this form could even have caught the eye of Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez.

Certainly, those are the kinds of nights and opponents that would satisfy the cravings and addiction in his DNA.

Eubank crucially won the fans back on Saturday night, because he was facing potential a career abyss had he been beaten again by Smith. Clinching and nullifying the Liverpudlian early, dropping Smith in the fourth with a superb step-in right uppercut, and dominating his foe until the referee mercifully stopped the bout in the 10th round, Eubank could smile with joy – and relief – at the result.

By that 10th round, Smith, on wobbly legs and having shipped huge punishment, was a spent force. Indeed, the end might have come sooner, yet his corner team knew how rugged and tenacious the 35-year-old former world champion can be. But Eubank, admitting afterwards that he had had “demons to overcome” after being stopped in the fourth round himself by Smith in their first encounter in January – his first career loss by a stoppage – was just too good on the night.

As for Smith, who shrugged off questions that he had damaged his ankle early in the fight, he revealed that it was boiling himself down to 160lb and losing 40lb in camp after a back injury that did the real damage leading into the contest. In truth, Smith, a proud and valiant man, took nothing away from the victorious Eubank, just insisting that it was obvious he was “flat” in this outing. Who knows, there might even be talk of a trilogy after the dust settles (and if Smith wants to dance again), but this was a night which will be remembered for Eubank restoring – and enhancing – his credibility.

In January, all was lost. Now Eubank Jnr is back with a vengeance, and somewhere, Eubank Snr is smiling, glowing one suspects, proud of his victorious son.