Liverpool's Liam Smith aims to repeat his January victory over Chris Eubank Jr in Manchester on Saturday night. Smith, one of four boxing brothers, is among a recent resurgence of pugilistic talent on Merseyside. But where does he rank on an all-time list of boxing Liverpudlians? And who is #1? We have the answers in our Top 10 list:
10. Andy Holligan
Career: 1987-1998
Record: 27-3 (19)
Holligan's career peaked with a fifth-round defeat by then-unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez in a 140-pound title tilt in December 1993, but he also won British and Commonwealth titles at the weight.
9. Liam Smith
Career: 2008-present
Record (to date): 33-3-1 (20)
Enjoying a late career resurgence with wins over Eubank and Jessie Vargas, Smith won the WBO 154 pound title and defended it twice before running into Canelo Alvarez.
8. Charley White
Career: 1906-1923
Record: 123-35-13 (57)
Born in Liverpool, White fought his entire professional career out of Chicago, challenging for world titles at featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight against the likes of Abe Attell, Freddie Welsh, and Benny Leonard. In 1958, Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleischer ranked him the 10th best lightweight of all time.
7. Ernie Roderick
Career: 1931-1950
Record: 112-24-4 (45)
British champion at both welterweight and middleweight (at one point holding both titles simultaneously), and European champiob at welterweight. Scored wins over the likes of Jack Kid Berg and Jake Kilrain, but fell short in a world title fight against the legendary Henry Armstrong.
6. Alan Rudkin
Career: 1962-1972
Record: 42-8 (15)
British, Commonwealth, and European champion at bantamweight, but fell short in three world title tilts: agonizingly closely to Fighting Harada and Lionel Rose, and via knockout to Ruben Olivares.
5. Callum Smith
Career: 2012-present
Record (to date): 29-1 (21)
Has the opportunity to climb higher with victory over Artur Beterbiev in January. The former British and European super-middleweight champion suffered his only career defeat to date in a world title shot against Canelo Alvarez.
4. Natasha Jonas
Career: 2017-present
Record (to date): 14-2-1 (9)
The first woman to be voted British Boxer of the Year, Jonas fell short in two shots at a lightweight title but found success when leaping up to junior middleweight, winning the WBO, WBC, and IBF titles in successive bouts.
3. Paul Hodkinson
Career: 1986-1994
Record: 22-3-1 (21)
Was stopped by Marcos Villasana in his first attempt at a featherweight world title, but defeated Villasana in a rematch to claim the crown and defended it three times. Also won British and European belts.
2. Tony Bellew
Career: 2007-2018
Record: 30-3-1 (20)
Was stopped by Adonis Stevenson in his first attempt at a world title at light-heavyweight, but found success in 2016, winning a cruiserweight belt and challenging Oleksander Usyk for the undisputed crown. Also defeated David Haye twice at heavyweight.
1. John Conteh
Career: 1971-1980
Record: 34-4-1 (24)
A former British, European, and Commonwealth champion at light-heavyweight, Conteh won the WBC crown by defeating Jorge Ahumada in 1974 and held it until 1977. Fell short in three attempts to win it back, including twice against Matthew Saad Muhammad.
