If boxing fans are eagerly awaiting an expected avalanche of fight announcements, the fighters themselves are just as keen to dot the i’s and cross the t’s on their contracts and get 2025 underway.

Former WBO super welterweight champion, Liam Smith, is one of the fighters raring to get going.

At the moment, everything is based on rumors and hearsay but it appears that Smith’s most most likely option is a fight with unbeaten Irish hope, Aaron McKenna, 19-0 (10 KOs), on the undercard of the mooted middleweight fight between long time rivals, Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn. That fight seems set to take place this spring at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Smith stayed mum on who and where he will be fighting but did confirm to The Ring that he has been a part of the discussions which are taking place behind the scenes.

“Yeah, I am. I think I'll be on one of them cards and - obviously I can't say too much because nothing's really signed yet - but the talks are ongoing at the moment. I'll be on one of these big shows and it'll probably be the big one we're talking about in the UK,” Smith, 33-4-1 (20 KOs), said.

Smith has endured a frustrating two years. In January 2023 he was on a high after dominating Eubank Jnr and stopping him inside four rounds.

Injury forced him to postpone a contracted rematch and his preparations for the rescheduled September date were hampered. An unrecognisable Smith struggled to make weight and was stopped in the tenth round when he and Eubank did eventually get into the ring.

Since then, he has been frustrated in his efforts to secure a major fight.

Last September it appeared that his luck had changed when he was matched with Josh Kelly on the undercard of Riyadh Season’s Wembley Stadium spectacular which saw IBF heavyweight champion, Daniel Dubois, knock out two-time unified heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua.

A few days before the fight, a virus forced him to withdraw and he has been inactive since. Kelly went on to outpoint late substitute Ishmael Davis.

At 36 years old and having achieved everything he has, Smith could be forgiven for plotting his exit route from the sport but rather than dulling his desire, the disappointment on missing out on a Wembley appearance and the determination to erase the memory of his performance against Eubank Jnr are spurring him on.

Smith isn’t at the stage of his career where he needs a particularly big name opponent or occasion to motivate him to train.

“No, I don't at the moment. Any fight would have got me going because of the situation I've been through and because of the stink over the Eubank rematch. It's hard to say I let myself down - I didn't because of the circumstances around it which I'll not go into it - but the performance I put in….” he said, his voice trailing off. “I could box anyone and I'll be up for it next time around.

“I got very, very unfortunate with the Wembley show. I had a great camp out in Dubai, came home and just got ill and because of the Eubank rematch situation, I made the decision to pull out.

“If I’d never experienced the Eubank 2 fight, I probably would have went ahead with the Josh Kelly fight, as full of flu and as sick as I was. Once bitten, twice shy and I weren’t going to make that mistake twice. It was a big decision for me to pull out but I had to do it for my own benefit, my own career.”

Smith is one of the straightest talkers in professional boxing. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t be the type to pay even the blindest bit of notice to the opinions of those outside of his inner circle but he has been angered by some of the things he has seen and heard surrounding his withdrawal from the fight with Kelly and is keen to remind people who they are talking about.

“I was on a Wembley show with Joshua - Dubois, probably the best show I’ll have been on and I know I fought ‘Canelo’. [In a] fight that I’d have been 500% confident of winning after watching Josh fight Ishmael,” he said.

“I was getting very good money to fight Josh Kelly. I just don't get a couple of things I've seen, ‘Oh, Liam s—- himself’ - I might have to put my head through that window if I'm scared of Josh Kelly - or that I wasn’t going to make weight. Just crazy, crazy things.

“To be on that show I’d have chopped my leg off, but I couldn’t get out of bed.

“I'll let myself down against Eubank with the performance. I wasn’t doing it twice. If I did lose to Josh Kelly, I was done.”