Eubank vs Williams Prediction: Back Eubank Jr to take out the brave Welshman late

Saturday night sees another big clash take place in the always entertaining Middleweight division. Englishman Chris Eubank Jr takes on Welshman Liam Williams in a highly anticipated grudge match. We've sent our own pugilist specialist @OddsTerrier into the odds and stats and he's picked out two tips for the prizefighting action. 

Where and when is the fight?

Chris Eubank Jr v Liam Williams is being held at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. The event is a BOXXER promotion and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event.

The main undercard will start around 7.30pm 

• Claressa Shields vs Ema Kozin – for WBA, WBC, IBF and The Ring middleweight titles
• Otto Wallin v Kamil Sokolowski
• Chris Jenkins vs Julius Indongo
• Caroline Dubois vs Vaida Masiokaite
• Samuel Antwi vs Conah Walker – for BBBofC English welterweight title
• Harlem Eubank vs Viorel Simion
• Rhys Edwards vs Ruslan Berchuk
• Steve Robinson vs Shane Gill

Followed by the main event which should ring walk around 10-10:30pm.

Saturday night sees the long awaited fight between Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Williams in a fight that was originally meant to take place in mid-December, but Williams had to pull out with a shoulder injury. The fight was moved to January 29th but this was again postponed after the announcement from the BBBofC that they were suspending all boxing in Britain due to the Omicron COVID variant. With the relaxation of the rules regarding indoor events in Wales, this terrific fight can now go ahead as planned. 

The bookmakers have Eubank Jr a huge 1/3 favourite in this Middleweight clash. Liam Williams comes in to the fight a 13/5 underdog whilst the draw is best priced 21/1.

The two boxers have been trading verbal jabs in the build up to the fight and look to have a genuine dislike for each other. Eubank has referred to Williams as a 'Keyboard Warrior' and Williams stated that Chris Jr was an embarrassment to the Eubank family name. Whether either fighter can back up the jibes remains to be seen. I have two picks for you below that give you my opinion on the fight outcome. 

As always please remember to gamble responsibly. 

Just like the bookmakers I firmly expect Eubank Jr to win this one. Whilst he is not to everyone's liking, there is no doubting his ability. His two losses have come at the hands of two excellent fighters in Billy Joe Saunders and George Groves. Williams, on the other hand, has failed every time he's stepped up in level; losing comprehensively to Demetrius Andrade and to Liam Smith twice. His best win at this level is probably over Mark Heffron. Eubank has dispatched decent mid-level operators in Marcus Morrison, James Degale, Artur Abraham and Gary O'Sullivan so has generally fought at a higher level.

The question I have been agonising over is whether Eubank stops Williams or not.  Eubank has a decent knockout record winning 23 of his 31 victories by stoppage, but a lot of these have been TKO's where the referee has stopped the fight due to it being one sided or the corner has pulled their man out to prevent a further beating. There are still questions about Eubank's punch power and Williams himself has referred to that when speaking about their sparring together several years ago. 

Williams has never been stopped before, other than being pulled out by his trainer Gary Lockett, due to a nasty cut caused by a Liam Smith headbutt in their first fight. He is a strong, durable, proud fighter and I can't see him quitting on his stool or being knocked clean out here. I do however, foresee the referee jumping in late after another trademark flurry of Eubank combination punches and calling a halt to the fight. 

Eubank Jr is 11/8 to stop Williams inside the distance and I'll be taking that as my main bet. 

Our second selection is a doubling down on my first pick. I like the 5/1 on offer at Boylesports for Eubank Jr to end the fight in the Championship rounds. Most of Eubank's knockouts have been in the early rounds against lesser quality than Williams. However, when he's stepped up in grade he's been made to work harder to finish his man and has either retired him late or the fight has gone the distance. I see this bout taking a similar path and envisage Eubank finally breaking Williams resistance and heart around round 10. We have 9-12 covered with this bet as a little bit of a comfort zone. 

Please enjoy the fights on Saturday and bet responsibly.