Chris Eubank Jr v Liam Williams grudge match ends boxing’s midwinter hiatus

British boxing’s midwinter hiatus ends on Saturday night in Cardiff as Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Williams meet in a grudge middleweight match which promises to be as bitter in the ring as it has been in the acrimonious buildup. Eubank Jr and Williams are both running out of time and opportunities at the highest level and defeat for either fighter will come as a heavy blow.

The British Boxing Board of Control put the sport into a self-imposed lockdown throughout January “to allow doctors and medical experts to prioritise their work with the NHS during the pandemic.” The doctors’ crucial work at ringside, while monitoring the risk and damage that boxers face, resumes in Cardiff in front of a sold-out arena. They will be especially vigilant when Eubank and Williams enter the ring. While neither man is an elite-level fighter, they offer a sobering reminder of boxing’s dangerous undertow.

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In March 2016, Nick Blackwell, who was one of Williams’s closest friends in boxing, defended his British middleweight title against Eubank. Blackwell suffered a sustained beating and was stopped in the 10th round. He then collapsed while the doctor was examining the grotesque swelling above his left eye. Blackwell was rushed to hospital and placed in a medically induced coma for nine days. He survived and partially recovered before he made the mistake of trying to spar behind closed doors, against all advice, and suffered further brain damage.

That unsettling memory should temper excessive enthusiasm about the “needle” that clearly exists between Williams and Eubank. Their mutual dislike of each other appears genuine and the spite is deepened by the fact