Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith step in the ring on Saturday night some seven years after they spent two weeks training in Bolton together.

Eubank was drafted in by Liam’s brother Paul, who was preparing for a world title bout with Arthur Abraham in February 2015.

They sparred three times. Smith, then a regular at light-middleweight, remembers it well. Eubank does not.

“I genuinely can’t remember how those spars went,” 33-year-old Eubank said. “He’s been saying that he nearly crumbled me with a body shot.

“The myth around his gym and around Liverpool is that Chris Eubank Jr is vulnerable and weak to the body and he exploited that. I doubt very highly that’s what happened.”

“One minute he tells you he can’t remember it, the next minute he says he can,” Smith said in response.

“The next minute he says he beat me up in sparring, the next minute I was just another body.”

‘No-one is getting under my skin’

Despite being seven years ago, the sparring sessions have been a bone of contention for both men in the build-up to their middleweight fight.

It has been ever-present in the verbal exchanges, used as a mental weapon by both.

“We had good spars, very good spars,” Smith recalled. “But at the time he wasn’t a good fighter I could learn off.”

Smith has not backed down from the taunts, firing back in person or on social media. But the Liverpudlian says Eubank has not managed to touch a nerve.

“No one is going to get under my skin by verbals. I react to him the same way I react to anyone asking me a question,” he said.

“Any man sitting across the table saying they’ll beat me at 50%, I’ll tell them to stop telling lies.”

Eubank went on an eight-fight winning streak after the sparring session. The Brighton boxer hopes Smith’s recollection of events will spur him on in the ring.

“I like that he’s got that little bit of confidence, that little bit of hope,” he said.

“I’m happy for him to take that little piece of confidence and hope into the ring with him. It’ll probably help him fight better on the night, survive a little bit longer.”

Eubank will revert to ‘type’

Smith has stopped his past three opponents. At 34, he is in a purple patch of form. He puts it all down to “momentum” rather than any dramatic improvement in his ability.

Smith’s coach is Joe McNally, who recently added former undisputed champion Josh Taylor to his training ranks. Inside their base at the Rotunda ABC in Liverpool, Liam’s brothers and now retired boxers Paul and Stephen watch the drills, his youngest brother and former world champion Callum pops his head in at the end.

During the session McNally can be heard telling Smith: “He won’t change in the fight.”

Smith believes Eubank is one-dimensional, a “better fighter than a boxer” and does not think teaming up with boxing legend Roy Jones Jr in 2020 has yielded any significant changes.

“Chris reverts back to type,” Smith said.

“He got found wanting against Billy Joe Saunders and he got found wanting against George Groves [in 2018].

“Two fighters who are better than him, fundamentally wise and big enough to hold their own with him. If I’m big enough to hold my own with him, I beat him and I beat him well.”

Eubank says he has not contemplated losing for a second. He is confident Smith’s style will make for an exciting match-up even if he considers himself clear favourite.

“Liam doesn’t shine in any particular department and that’s why I say he can’t beat me. You have to shine, you have to be exceptional in one way or another, in some aspect of boxing, to be able to compete with me,” Eubank said.

“He’s very good at the fundamentals. But I’m great at lots of aspects. Great doesn’t compete with good.”