Wednesday 24 June 2015 17:48, UK
Christopher Rebrasse is looking to disrupt Callum Smith's smooth ride to title fights on in Liverpool Friday. What do we know about him?
Where does he come from?
Rebrasse is from Levallois-Perret... You haven't heard of it? It's a suburb of Paris of course. There, he's known (brilliantly) as 'L'iceberg.' No, not the lettuce.
A French boxer? That's a rare beast isn't it? Ooh la la etc...
Well, it's true that French boxing hasn't exactly been thriving on the world stage, but Hassan N'Dam showed admirable bravery to haul himself up from the canvas four times against David Lemieux. He missed out on the vacant IBF middleweight title though.
So has Rebrasse been in any big fights himself?
Yeah, at European level he's been a champion. He beat Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye in Italy in March last year to take the vacant European super-middleweight crown – only to lose it to George Groves six months later at Wembley Arena.
How badly did he lose to Groves?
It was a unanimous decision. Groves beat Rebrasse to the punch most of the night but L'iceberg was pretty cool under the pressure – he was never shaken so it's clear he has a very decent chin.
So he's a top European-level fighter?
Yeah that's fair to say. He's probably not the most dangerous offensively – he only has six stoppages to his name in 29 fights. What he does offer is great punch resistance and work-rate, so he'll certainly provide Smith with his toughest test to date.
Any chance of an upset?
It would be a pretty big upset. Smith is a slick natural boxer and Rebrasse will need to find something more than he's shown in the past to bridge the gap skill-wise. In truth, it looks the perfect acid test for Smith, who can make a real statement by doing a better job than Groves did.
Rebrasse must feel he has a chance?
There is no pressure on me as everyone is expecting him to beat me. We are ready to return to England and cause a big upset beating Callum in his home city.
Oh yeah. He said: “I’m feeling very confident and focused for this fight with Callum – there is no pressure on me as everyone is expecting him to beat me. We are ready to return to England and cause a big upset beating Callum in his home city.”
And what does Callum make of him?
He seems confident and has already revealed a few of his plans for the future, but he's wary of looking past Rebrasse because L'iceberg is dead ahead.
Smith said: "Rebrasse gave Groves a tough fight, he took some big shots from Groves and gave plenty of his own back, so I expect a tough night. I have trained for 12 hard rounds as it’s my toughest fight, but one that I believe I can win convincingly and progress from it."
