After Liam Smith missed weight right before a WBO junior middleweight title fight back in April, beating Liam Williams meant nothing. Now the two will have a rematch in November.
Smith and Williams will face off on November 11 in Newcastle, England in what is essentially a matchup that could create the WBO's mandatory challenger at junior middleweight.
Promoter Frank Warren spoke to the media when he announced the fight and said the winner of this fight not only would decide a mandatory challenger, but also create the possibility of having Miguel Cotto's last fight take place in England as Cotto recently won the WBO title.
“This has all of the ingredients of a great fight,” Warren said. “I believe it will be even better than their first meeting. The winner of this fight becomes the WBO mandatory challenger, wouldn't it be great to bring Miguel Cotto to the U.K.?”
Smith and Williams fought for the then-vacant WBO title, but after Smith missed weight, Williams was the only one eligible to win the title in April. Williams was deemed in no position to continue after suffering a double laceration to the right eyelid in the ninth round of their fight. In between rounds, Williams' corner stopped the fight to protect the fighter, but a rematch was likely going to happen.
Smith held the WBO title from 2015 to 2016 when he lost the title to Canelo Alvarez. Alvarez never defended the title and stayed vacated throughout most of 2017 until Cotto won the title.
