Eubank Jr was rocked in Manchester on Saturday night (Picture: LAWRENCE LUSTIG/BOXXER)

Carl Froch has warned Chris Eubank Jr could now face retirement from boxing following his upset defeat to Liam Smith.

Eubank Jr was the bookies’ favourite heading into his Manchester showdown on Saturday night, planning lucrative showdowns with boxing legends in Gennady Golovkin and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez later in the year after dealing with Smith.

It didn’t go according to plan, however, with the Brighton fighter rocked by a devastating uppercut in the fourth round. Eubank Jr was unable to recover with Smith finishing the fight shortly after, condemning his rival to the third defeat of his professional career.

Eubank Jr had been well-placed to challenge WBA and IBF middleweight champion Golovkin had he been victorious but in the aftermath of his defeat, fighters and pundits have questioned whether he can still make the 160lbs weight-limit.

He has previously fought at super-middleweight but came unstuck against George Groves in his world title challenge at 168lbs in 2018.

Former world champion Froch now believes Eubank Jr is now facing a very difficult decision over his future in the sport.

He told Sky Sports: ‘I don’t know how he’s done the weight or if it’s a problem for him, but at 33 years old, middleweight may not be for him. Where does he go from here? That could be curtains on his career. I don’t want to say he should retire now. It was a bad defeat.

Eubank Jr also suffered a nasty eye injury (Picture: Getty)

‘Where does he go now? Middleweight or super-middleweight? Regardless of the weight, I don’t think we should take away from what a magnificent performance it was from Liam Smith.

‘He took his time from round one, he won round one and round two on my card, bit of a bad round three. Liam Smith, I thought he had a great start and he was landing more punches and he was putting Chris Eubank on his back foot and controlling and dictating the pace round the ring.

‘Then when he started to land shots, it was fight over.’

Eubank Jr has a rematch option to try and get revenge over Smith while he still has unfinished business with Conor Benn after their October bout was postponed due to the welterweight’s failed drug test.

While suffering a damaging defeat, former cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson believes Eubank Jr still has good options around him.

‘There’s fights out there. Look at this place [the Manchester Arena], this place was absolutely rocking. They could do that again. They could do that again at Anfield, wherever it is. But he’s got to think about what weight he’s going to carry on boxing at and what his dreams are.’

MORE : Chris Eubank Jr suffers gruesome eye injury in Liam Smith defeat but issues challenge for Anfield rematch

MORE : Conor Benn and Billy Joe Saunders brutally mock Chris Eubank Jr after shock defeat to Liam Smith

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Eubank Jr was rocked in Manchester on Saturday night (Picture: LAWRENCE LUSTIG/BOXXER)

Carl Froch has warned Chris Eubank Jr could now face retirement from boxing following his upset defeat to Liam Smith.

Eubank Jr was the bookies’ favourite heading into his Manchester showdown on Saturday night, planning lucrative showdowns with boxing legends in Gennady Golovkin and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez later in the year after dealing with Smith.

It didn’t go according to plan, however, with the Brighton fighter rocked by a devastating uppercut in the fourth round. Eubank Jr was unable to recover with Smith finishing the fight shortly after, condemning his rival to the third defeat of his professional career.

Eubank Jr had been well-placed to challenge WBA and IBF middleweight champion Golovkin had he been victorious but in the aftermath of his defeat, fighters and pundits have questioned whether he can still make the 160lbs weight-limit.

He has previously fought at super-middleweight but came unstuck against George Groves in his world title challenge at 168lbs in 2018.

Former world champion Froch now believes Eubank Jr is now facing a very difficult decision over his future in the sport.

He told Sky Sports: ‘I don’t know how he’s done the weight or if it’s a problem for him, but at 33 years old, middleweight may not be for him. Where does he go from here? That could be curtains on his career. I don’t want to say he should retire now. It was a bad defeat.

Eubank Jr also suffered a nasty eye injury (Picture: Getty)

‘Where does he go now? Middleweight or super-middleweight? Regardless of the weight, I don’t think we should take away from what a magnificent performance it was from Liam Smith.

‘He took his time from round one, he won round one and round two on my card, bit of a bad round three. Liam Smith, I thought he had a great start and he was landing more punches and he was putting Chris Eubank on his back foot and controlling and dictating the pace round the ring.

‘Then when he started to land shots, it was fight over.’

Eubank Jr has a rematch option to try and get revenge over Smith while he still has unfinished business with Conor Benn after their October bout was postponed due to the welterweight’s failed drug test.

While suffering a damaging defeat, former cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson believes Eubank Jr still has good options around him.

‘There’s fights out there. Look at this place [the Manchester Arena], this place was absolutely rocking. They could do that again. They could do that again at Anfield, wherever it is. But he’s got to think about what weight he’s going to carry on boxing at and what his dreams are.’

MORE : Chris Eubank Jr suffers gruesome eye injury in Liam Smith defeat but issues challenge for Anfield rematch

MORE : Conor Benn and Billy Joe Saunders brutally mock Chris Eubank Jr after shock defeat to Liam Smith

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.