By Per-Åke Persson
Former world champion, 38-year-old Liam “Beefy” Smith (33-5-1) returns after 18 months out of the ring on September 4 in Kirkkonummi, Finland, and takes on Finn Ilari “Loverboy” Kujala (12-0) in a fight contested at 73.9 kg/163 lbs and scheduled for ten rounds.
Smith lost to Aaron McKenna last time out and, before that, was stopped by Chris Eubank Jr., so what he has left is a good question. However, he has fought at a level the untested Kujala has never even been near.
Smith vs. Kujala headlines this Elite Boxing promotion in the small town, which has a population of 42,000. Smith is, of course, an overwhelming favourite against the Finn, who, on the other hand, is young, fresh and pretty good, with nothing to lose and everything to win.
In other action, cruiserweight Keni Aliu (9-1) meets Norwegian Andreas Skarvold Iversen (6-1), while super middleweight Anton Embulaev (10-1) takes on American Jerome Cullors (9-3).
Kujala is coached by former European middleweight champion Amin Asikainen. Both come from the southern Finnish town of Kirkkonummi, where the fight will take place at Varuboden Arena.
Asikainen will have a busy night, as two more of his fighters will also feature on the card. Keni Aliu (9-1) will face Norway’s Andreas Skarvold Iversen (6-1) at cruiserweight, while Anton Embulaev (10-1) squares off against American Jeremy Cullors (9-3) at super middleweight. Both bouts are scheduled for eight rounds.
An eight-round Scandinavian showdown at super welterweight will see Finland’s Rami El Jahiri (6-2-1) face Denmark’s Jamshid Nazari (11-4).
EBU-ranked super flyweight Teresa Mäkinen (6-0) will face an opponent to be announced.
Tickets and live stream information at eliteboxing.fi
