By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBC/IBF/WBO Light Heavyweight Champion Artur Beterbiev of Russia defends his titles against former WBA Super World Middleweight Champion Callum Smith of Liverpool, England this Saturday, January 13th. The 12-round battle from Quebec, City, Canada can be seen live in America on ESPN+ while fans in the UK can see it on Sky Sports Arena. Beterbiev hasn’t fought since last January when he stopped Anthony Yarde in the eighth round and smith last saw action in August, 2022 when he halted Mathieu Bauderlique in the fourth round. Beterbiev and Smith were originally supposed to meet last august but the fight was postponed as Beterbiev suffered a jaw infection. Beterbiev has held his IBF crown since 2017, the WBC belt since 2019 and the WBO hardware since 2022. Smith originally won his WBA Super Middleweight Title by stopping George Groves in the seventh round of the World Boxing Super Series Final in September, 2018 and lost it in his third defence when he dropped a unanimous decision to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in December, 2020. He then moved up to the light heavyweight division.
Beterbiev won the vacant IBF title in 2017 by stopping Enrico Koelling in the 12th round and has defended it against Callum Johnson, Radivoje Kalajdzic, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Adam Deines, Marcus Browne, Joe Smith Jr and Anthony Yarde all by way of stoppage. He also won the WBC belt when he beat Gvozdyk. The 38-year-old, who fights out of Montreal, Canada, is a former world amateur champion and Olympian who turned pro in 2013 and has boxed just 91 rounds since.
The reason for such few rounds in the bank is because he’s knocked out all of his opponents while compiling a perfect record of 19-0 with 19 Ko’s. This of course means his knockout ratio currently stands at a perfect 100 per cent, but he’s sometimes disappointed fans and critics by shying away from the big guns of the light heavyweight division other than Gvozdyk, Browne and Smith. However, he has three three of the light heavyweight titles to his name while fellow countryman Dmitry Bivol owns the WBA Title and a win for Beterbiev this weekend will likely result in an undisputed unification bout with Bivol, so there’s a lot on the line for him against Smith.
Beterbiev’s also beaten the likes of former world champions Gabriel Campillo in 2015 and Tavoris Cloud a year earlier. Size-wise, Beterbiev isn’t the biggest light heavyweight around as he’s just under 6-feet tall with a reach of 73 inches. He obviously has fine boxing skills that were utilized during his amateur career but since turning pro he hasn’t really had the chance to use them as he’s been on a seek and destroy mission over the past few years and has been very successful at it so far.
Beterbiev also has a pretty solid chin but he’s been on the canvas before as Jeff Page Jr. dropped him in the first round in 2014. However he got up and stopped Page the next round after decking him twice. The knock against Beterbiev is that he doesn’t use his jab enough, lacks hand speed and doesn’t move his head much either, which makes him a bit of a sitting duck. But he hasn’t paid for it yet due to his tremendous power. Since turning pro, he’s also won the NABA, WBO International, WBO NABO, and IBF North American Light Heavyweight titles.
The 33-year-old Smith has a fine record of 29-1 with 21 Ko’s and has boxed 152 rounds since turning pro in 2012. He’s definitely big enough for the light heavyweight division as he stands 6-feet-3-inches tall with a 78-inch reach, which gives him a 3.5-inch edge min reach over Beterbiev as well as five inches in reach. Smith also enjoyed a fine amateur career and was once the British Super Welterweight Champion as an amateur. But other than facing Alvarez, Groves and Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, he hasn’t really taken on anybody else who resembles a Grade A boxer.
Smith has also beaten the likes of Gilberto Rivera, Nieky Holzken, Erik Skoglund, Luke Blackledge, Norbert Nemesapati, Cesar Hernan Reynoso, Rocky Fielding and Christopher Rebrasse with a highly controversial decision against John Ryder in 2019 also thrown in there. He’s displayed pretty good power up to now though as 72.4 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage including four of his past five. Smith has also been an English, British, European, WBC International and WBC Silver Super Middleweight Champion since turning.
Prediction…
Beterbiev’s not the most-skilled boxer around and it’s possible that he’s slightly overrated and is also 38 years old. He was also rocked in his last fight by Anthony Yarde and has been out of the ring for a year. Smith hasn’t fought since August, 2022 and boxed just once in 2020, 2021 and 2022, so inactivity won’t help him. He lost a wide unanimous decision to Canelo Alvarez in 2020 as he simply didn’t let his hands go. If he makes the same mistake against Beterbiev he’ll likely be stopped. However, Smith has the size, reach and power to win this fight if he puts it all together. This is his chance to prove he belongs on the world stage and while he should have his moments and may even win a few rounds I’m expecting Beterbiev to eventually catch up to him and retain his titles in a pretty close fight while it lasts. Beterbiev’s power should do the trick but an upset is possible.
