LIAM SMITH has his sights set on lucrative meetings with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Kell Brook after knocking Predrag Radosevich out to successfully defend his WBO world super-welterweight title last night.
The 27-year-old Liverpudlian was defending his title for the second time, and fighting in his home city for the first time since winning the belt last year.
After a dominant first, Smith felled the Montenegrin with a left hook to the body in the second, and the challenger could not beat referee Steve Gray’s count at 1-34.
“I’d be a liar if I said Canelo doesn’t get my stomach going,” Smith said after the fight.
“Every time anyone mentions Canelo and Vegas to me, it gives me goose bumps.”
Smith has been touted as a potential foe for the flame-haired Mexican for a while, though Alvarez is more heavily linked to middleweight monster Gennady Golovkin.
Smith also name-dropped IBF welterweight king Kell Brook – a man he has openly expressed a desire to fight in the past – after beating Radosevich. Smith, and his promoter Frank Warren, have previously suggested Brook could face Smith at 154lbs, so as not to risk losing his welterweight title.
@SpecialKBrook about time u opened your mouth, instead of Eddie, I like you, but the minute you want to come to 154, just let me no mate
— Liam Smith (@LiamBeefySmith) June 5, 2016
Brook is expected to meet WBO welterweight boss Jessie Vargas in a unification fight later in the year.
Canelo and his team are still in talks with ‘GGG’ and his representatives over a monster fight potentially in September or early next year. Alvarez vacated his WBC middleweight title – which he had only fought at 155lbs for – to eradicate any deadlines over a proposed meeting with mandatory challenger Golovkin. The Kazakh subsequently inherited the WBC strap, adding it to his IBF and WBA titles.
Though undefeated and absurdly underrated, Smith is yet to be tested against a top-level opponent – both Brook and Canelo would provide such a test.
