Undefeated Artur Beterbiev, holder of three major world titles at 175 pounds and a 100% KO rate. (Photo by Mark Robinson/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
On Saturday, Artur Beterbiev will put his IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight titles on the line against former super middleweight champion Callum Smith at the Center Videotron in Quebec City, Canada.
Beterbiev, ranked No. 2 by The Ring at light heavyweight, appreciates the complicated nature of this WBC mandatory title fight.
“Like every fight for me, it’s very important,” Beterbiev (19-0, 19 knockouts) told The Ring. “Any fight is dangerous because boxing is dangerous.”
The soon-to-be 39-year-old recognizes the potential threat, but was unwilling to divulge too much about his battle plan.
“(Smith) is a good fighter,” he acknowledged. “He has good experience in professional boxing. He is tall. We’ll see.
“Normally we never talk about our strategy or what we are going to try to do in this fight. “We try to be prepared.”
His longtime coach, Marc Ramsay, expanded the load he will face a little more.
“It’s a good fight, it’s a good challenge for Artur, for our team,” Ramsay said. “Callum is a good, well-rounded fighter, he’s already had a couple of good fights (at 175 pounds). He has that experience too. It’s a good challenge, we love it.
“We are very happy to do that fight, especially in front of our fans in Quebec City and I hope it will be a great fight for everyone.”
Beterbiev had been preparing deeply to face Smith on August 19, when he suffered a bone infection in his jaw, causing the fight to be postponed by five months.
“I tried to prepare for the fight,” he said. “It’s not my choice to move the fight, it’s not on purpose. I got injured and we had to postpone it.
“It’s the tooth, I injured it a long time ago but it got worse. I went to the dentist, he worked on my mouth for an hour, an hour and a half and I still spar. I did everything I could not to postpone this fight but the doctor said it was not good. It’s OK now.”
The Russian-born Canadian resident spent time on the sidelines before starting camp.
“(The) doctor said two months and after two months I started step by step, jogging, doing shade,” he explained. “I went to Russia (for precamp) for 25 days. I was in the mountains. (Then I returned to Montreal) for 8 weeks.”
Ramsay says he has modified training camp accordingly for Beterbiev.
“When you get older you change some little things or you can’t continue in boxing,” said the respected trainer. “For me, Artur right now I can see that he is very involved technically, he is a better technical fighter than a couple of years ago.
“You might lose a little bit of something, but you might also gain a little bit of something. The balance is still there, he is a very good power boxer, he still tries to learn something every day in the gym.”
This will also mark the first time Beterbiev has fought since he was involved in a wild back-and-forth shootout with Anthony Yarde last January in what was one of the best fights of the year in 2023.
“The fight in Yarde is another experience in London,” he said. “I’m happy to be there after the Olympics (in 2012), it was like a recovery, the last time I was in London, I was fighting in the Olympics but it wasn’t very good (Editor’s note: Beterbiev lost 17:13 to Oleksandr Usyk in the quarterfinals), but now he is a little better.
“It was a good fight, they prepared very well. “I’m happy to win this fight and everything is fine.”
However, the fight everyone wants to see is Beterbiev against WBA leader Dmitry Bivol. The two faced each other in October in a showdown in Saudi Arabia.
In a rare moment, the usually laconic Beterbiev let his guard down when asked if his ultimate goal is to be the undisputed light heavyweight champion.
“Yeah, it’s an idea, that’s what I’d like to do but don’t tell anyone,” he joked, laughing playfully.
Smith (29-1, 21 KOs), ranked No. 3 by The Ring at light heavyweight, won the British and European super middleweight titles in impressive fashion and got his big break in WBSS. He defeated Erik Skoglund (UD 12) and late substitute Nieky Holzken (UD 12) to earn a safe passage to the final, where he stopped George Groves (KO 7) to become Ring champion and WBA titleholder.
The Englishman struggled to capitalize on that momentum, easily defeating diminutive Hassan N’dam N’Jikam (TKO 3) and working John Ryder (UD 12) in subsequent title defenses before losing to boxing superstar Canelo Álvarez (UD 12 ). The 33-year-old moved up to 175 pounds and impressively won both starts in that division.
Beterbiev-Smith, in addition to the preliminary fights, will air live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ at 10 pm ET/7 pm PT. The fight will be broadcast on Sky Sports at 3am GMT.
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].
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