Liam Smith v Anthony Fowler predictions and boxing betting tips: Smith can star

Free boxing tips, best bets and analysis for Liam Smith v Anthony Fowler at the Liverpool Arena on Saturday.

Where to watch

DAZN, from 7pm Saturday

Best bets

Liam Smith to win by stoppage
2pts 13-8 Betfred

Ted Cheeseman to win by stoppage
1pt 7-2 Betfred

Fight previews

Before Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder get it on for a third time in Las Vegas there’s a top card of boxing in Liverpool.

Liam Smith’s clash against Merseyside rival Anthony Fowler heads the bill and it promises to be a decent dust-up.

Smith is the classier of the two boxers, having mixed it beyond domestic level and even in defeat Beefy has performed with credit.

The Liverpool fighter took elite-level performer Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez nine rounds and the only other two defeats on his record came against unbeaten pair Jaime Munguia and Magomed Kurbanov.

In between those bouts Smith has beaten good operators Sam Eggington and Liam Williams and that form looks far stronger than anything Fowler has to offer.

It's possible Beefy is on the slide at the age of 33, and the Machine is on the up, but it seems a little early to be drawing those conclusions.

Fowler was floored and beaten by Scott Fitzgerald in 2019 and the Preston puncher is the only decent opponent that the Machine has been in with.

Fowler is sure to be in excellent condition for this fight and he does boast a relentless work-rate, but his limitations and vulnerability to power were exposed by Fitzgerald and it could pay to back a Smith stoppage victory.

It’s 13-8 that Beefy records a knockout victory and he is unlikely to find his Merseyside rival a tough target to hit.

Ted Cheeseman doesn’t get the credit he deserves, but that’s to the benefit of punters. The Big Cheese boxed extremely well and was unfortunate not to get the decision when clashing with Fitzgerald in 2019. The only other defeat on the Bermondsey boy’s card was when he challenged the impressive Sergio Garcia for the European super-welterweight belt a couple of years ago.

Cheeseman has beaten top-level domestic performer Sam Eggington and he also stopped the previously unbeaten James Metcalf last time out. The Big Cheese won the vacant British super-welterweight belt when defeating Metcalf and similarly to Saturday's opponent the Liverpool man had never been in with someone as tough as Cheeseman.

Troy Williamson is another fighter with eyes on the British belt and he is yet to taste defeat in 17 professional fights. We don’t quite know how good the Darlington dueller could be, as he has been mixing it in low-key fights, but by the same token we don’t know if he can take a punch from a serious operator.

Williamson is a former ABA champion and he looks to possess plenty of power.

However, Trojan is yet to prove he is capable of dealing with this level of opponent and the 30-year-old only decided to turn pro in 2016.

That’s pretty late in a fighter’s career, and while he deserves a shot on a big boxing show, he is in with one of the toughest men on the domestic scene.

Cheeseman can be backed at 7-2 for a stoppage victory and at the price he looks value to retain his British title in style.

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