Promoter Frank Warren is billing it as “The Talk of the Town”, and Friday’s fight in Liverpool between Paul Smith and Tony Quigley is the biggest all-Merseyside bout in a long time.

Quigley won the British super middleweight title by stopping Liverpool rival Tony Dodson in the last round of an excellent fight in March.

This all-Liverpool fight is bigger, though, because Smith brings the high profile of a fighter who has boxed often on major promotions in the U.K. as well appearing on American TV in The Contender series two years ago, when he outpointed competent David Banks but was unable to go through to the next round due to suffering a cut. He was an international-calibre amateur, too, winning a Commonwealth Games silver medal.

I wouldn’t go far as to say this is a grudge match — or “needle match” as fights of this nature used to be called in Britain — but relations between the two men seem to be a bit strained. Each feels that the other has been making unflattering remarks, with Smith, for instance, apparently having said that he would beat Quigley and Dodson on the same night.

Smith, 27, is the obvious favourite. Although Smith is the challenger, he is much the more experienced boxer, having had more than twice as many fights as Quigley. Smith was a top-quality amateur, too, winning English national titles as a junior and senior.

In the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Smith lost by 18-16 on the electronic scoring method in a spirited light-middleweight final against Canada’s Jean Pascal. In another closely contested bout with a future professional star, Smith lost 17-15 to Andre Dirrell in a U.S.-England amateur match in Liverpool.

As a professional, Smith hasn’t quite lived up to the promise he showed in the amateurs. This is his first main event on British TV. Smith has beaten a number of solid fighters but there have been nights when he has seemed to fight down to the level of his opponents. He lost on points to the southpaw veteran Steve Bendall in Smith’s only loss, but I understand that this was a much-disputed decision.

Smith has always maintained that if he had 12 weeks’ notice for a fight — as he has for this one — he would show what he could do. Now, after 28 professional bouts in a six-year career, he gets the type of opportunity he has long sought.

Quigley, 25, doesn’t have Smith’s amateur pedigree or pro seasoning, but he has long been regarded as a talented boxer. He was a national junior and national schoolboys champion in the amateurs and boxed in the world junior amateur championships.

Undefeated Nathan Cleverly was too good and too strong for Quigley, hurting him to the body and stopping him in five rounds in Quigley’s only loss.

There is a feeling in British boxing circles that Quigley would be better-suited to the middleweight division and that he is susceptible to body punches — and Smith throws a hurtful left hook downstairs.

Although Quigley fought skilfully and gamely in the fight with Tony Dodson he seemed to be losing before landing a big left hook to pull out the dramatic last-round victory.

That was the first time that Quigley had been past six rounds, and he showed heart and endurance to weather some heavy pressure from the more experienced Dodson.

This fight could have done wonders for Quigley. He now know that he can go 12 tough rounds and find a match-winning punch late in the proceedings. He says he has trained harder than he has ever done for the fight with Dodson, travelling to France for sparring and running in the Welsh hills to build up stamina. Quigley has had problems with tendonitis in his left shoulder and had to pull out of a fight with Brian Magee in July but he says that he is feeling good and ready to go after two and a half months of training.

Smith is a tough, aggressive boxer-fighter and he has to be considered the banger in the fight, but Quigley might be the better pure boxer. Quigley tends to hold his hands low but he has good punch-anticipation. In the fight with Dodson it seemed to me that Quigley was fighting in spurts, conscious of conserving energy, but there were times when he looked extremely classy, and he finished the fight in fine style, taking everything out of Dodson with the big left hook and then flooring him twice.

This is the latest in a series of domestic-showdown fights in Britain this year and it has the potential to be one of the
most entertaining.

I’m leaning a bit towards the upset. Quigley will be at risk in every round against the bigger hitter, but he can punch a bit himself and I think he has the boxing ability and the hand speed to gain an advantage. Tentatively, I’m taking Quigley to spring a surprise, most likely on points.