GRADES: LIAM SMITH, CHRIS EUBANK, JOSEPH PARKER, RICHARD RIAKPORHE, DAVID STEVENS

By: Jay Calderon

We had a bit of action on both Friday and Saturday.

First, on Friday, ShoBox gave us a bit of an upset when David Stevens stopped the previously-unbeaten Sean Hemphill in the eighth round in Pennsylvania. Then, not to be outdone, Saturday saw Liam Smith shock most of the boxing world when he stopped Chris Eubank, Jr. inside of four frames.

On the Eubank-Smith undercard in Manchester, England, former Heavyweight titlist Joseph Parker returned from a knockout loss to Joe Joyce in September of last year, earning a decision over the overmatched Jack Massey. Also, we saw a stay-busy performance from Cruiserweight Richard Riakporhe.

So, these are the fights we will be looking at as we hand out these grades.

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LIAM SMITH: A+

RESULT: DEF. CHRIS EUBANK, JR., 4TKO (MIDDLEWEIGHT)

It wasn't that the performance was perfect from a technical perspective, it was that it's the perfect performance for Liam Smith at this point in his career.

At 34 years of age, with more than a few miles on the odometer, Smith was all but finished in meaningful fights if he lost to Chris Eubank, Jr. It might have meant retirement had Eubank beaten Smith the way many had predicted before the fight.

Instead, Smith knew exactly what he had to do, which was press forward and put pressure on Eubank. However, unlike many that would simply know, but wouldn't pull the trigger, Smith consistently tried and land something meaningful from the opening frame.

In the fourth, when Smith dropped Eubank twice and ultimately earned the stoppage win, Liam had attained a new defining moment and prolonged a very solid professional career.

With this win, the Liverpool native has a host of interesting options available to him in the coming months, including a far better payday in the return bout with Eubank, should the latter's team opt to stage the second contest.

CHRIS EUBANK, JR.: F

RESULT: LOSS TO LIAM SMITH, 4TKO (MIDDLEWEIGHT)

While the grade seems harsh, perhaps, one has to be realistic: This was a bad loss for Chris Eubank.

Eubank went into this fight with Smith with his promoters claiming he was the best thing in the Middleweight division, with his trainer Roy Jones claiming he didn't even need guidance to defeat someone like Smith. Eubank himself seemed eager to prove just how much better he was than his opponent, bordering on being completely dismissive of Smith's skills.

Eubank and his team set the table for this humble pie.

Eubank, seemingly trying to mimic the fighting style of his trainer, seemed decent enough in the opening rounds, but was blasted out in the fourth, marking the first time he has been dropped or stopped in his career. Which makes matters worse, as Eubank was the much bigger man and has been known for having a very sturdy chin.

Now, with a giant upset loss in disastrous fashion, Eubank finds himself in bad need of a rebuild. However, he might be a man without a home. Too small for Super Middleweight, but perhaps unable to make 160 pounds without weakening himself. The rebuild could be tough.

No matter how you slice it, this loss was a bad one.

JOSEPH PARKER: C

RESULT: DEF. JACK MASSEY, 10UD (HEAVYWEIGHT)

For Saturday to be a successful night for Joseph Parker, he needed to defeat Jack Massey and look impressive while doing it.

Parker won, so he got about half of that right on the night.

It wasn't that Parker looked terrible, he just looked like a 31-year-old Heavyweight that has been in a few tough fights and simply isn't getting any better. With all due respect, no unbias fan watched that performance and now expects Parker to take out any top five Heavyweights in the world.

Interestingly enough, Parker has fought three of the top five guys at Heavyweight in terms of Andy Ruiz, Anthony Joshua, and most recently Joe Joyce. He's gone 1-2 against the trio, with the only win being a narrow one over Ruiz way back in 2016.

My point being the future doesn't look all that bright for the New Zealander.

That's not to say there aren't some decent mid-level fights left for Parker. 31 isn't dead. But if Parker has ambition beyond those middling encounters, the Massey win wasn't a giant leap in that direction.

RICHARD RIAKPORHE: B+

RESULT: DEF. KRZYSZTOF GLOWACKI, 4TKO (CRUISERWEIGHT)

One of the toughest things about preparing a prospect for that next step is finding the right opponents to keep them pushing in the right direction. They need to be decent enough that your prospect learns, but not so difficult that they derail your plans.

Perhaps on paper, Krzysztof Glowacki could have been that perfect balance for Richard Riakporhe. However, from about the moment the opening bell sounded, one got the sense it was just a matter of time before the undefeated Riakporhe would be victorious.

Glowacki was clearly beyond his best days, ultimately being stopped in the fourth round after being unable (or unwilling) to return fire when trapped in the corner. He just wasn't the fighter he once was.

Still, that isn't Riakporhe's fault. And doing what you have to do when in against a former titlist does count for something. Riakporhe was mostly measured, picked his shots fairly well, and seemed comfortable pressing forward. When he had his man in trouble, Richard didn't get overzealous and silly, but rather remained poised and did enough to force the referee to step in and call a halt to the action.

Overall, a decent win for what it was.

DAVID STEVENS: A

RESULT: DEF. SEAN HEMPHILL, 8KO (Super Middleweight)

Whenever you have two legitimate, undefeated prospects facing off against one another, you have to give both fighters credit. Boxing is a tricky sport, where teams look for every angle to keep their fighter busy, but mostly keep their fighter winning. However, ShoBox has consistently given us competitive match-ups between young fighters willing to risk that (overrated) '0'.

That's what we were given when Sean Hemphill and David Stevens met in the main event at the Wind Creek Events Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. And, in a bit of an upset, Stevens managed to come out on top, stopping Hemphill in the final seconds of the final round of a fight in which he was ahead.

It's tough to tell just how far Stevens will go from here, as he's merely 12-0 and anything can happen. However, he gets the high mark for being willing to take the risk, and making it pay off in the ring so well.

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