The Finnish line? Liam Smith takes on unbeaten middleweight abroad on September 4

Liam Smith takes on unbeaten middleweight abroad in Finland

By Tim Rickson21 Aug 2026 · Updated 19m ago · 2 min read

liam beefy smith vs ilari kujala finland september 4 — The Finnish line Liam Smith takes on unbeaten middleweight on September 4Elite Boxing

Liam Smith vs Ilari Kujala

Former world champion Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith (33-5-1, 20 KOs) is set to return to the ring against undefeated Finnish middleweight Ilari Kujala (12-0, 3 KOs) on Friday, September 4th on an Elite Boxing event at the Varuboden Areena in Kirkkonummi, Finland.

Kujala only turned pro in 2023 and has won all 12 bouts in his first three years in the paid ranks. He has defeated four unbeaten opponents within that time.

As an amateur, Kujala won two Finnish championships in 2015 and 2018, the latter of which he was chosen as the best boxer in the competition. In 2016, the youngster reached the quarter-finals of the European Boxing Olympic Qualifying Tournament before losing to Christian Mbilli of France, who is now preparing to defend his WBC World middleweight title to Canelo in October. Kujala won a bronze medal in the 2016 Tammer Tournament, but when he lost in the semi-finals of the Finnish National Championships in 2020, it was then that he decided to turn over, walking away with an impressive record of 43-32-1.

Now in his fourth year as a pro, he is boldly taking on former WBO World super-welterweight champion Liam Smith.

Now aged 38, "Beefy" won his WBO world title almost 11 years ago in 2015, eight years before his next opponent turned pro.

The former British champion won the WBO belt in emphatic style by demolishing American John Thompson in seven rounds in Manchester on a Queensberry main event. He defended it twice by knockout, until he decided to travel to the States to face a prime Canelo, bravely battling the Mexican superstar in Texas. The fight broke the boxing attendance record at the at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys, with 51,240 fans watching and a further 300,000 PPV buys. Defending champion Smith was dropped in rounds seven, eight and nine, which registered as his first ever professional defeat.

The Liverpudlian went on to have many more major nights in boxing. His brace of wins over powerful Welshman Liam Williams in 2017 got everyone talking, then he went on to record impressive knockout wins against Anthony Fowler, Jessie Vargas and Chris Eubank Jr.

Liam, the younger brother of Paul and Stephen Smith, and older brother of Callum, has only fought twice in the last three years and seven months, beaten in both bouts by Chris Eubank Jr and youngster Aaron McKenna, who just won the IBF World middleweight title this month.