Beterbiev vs Smith Jr. Preview
A light heavyweight unification bout is taking place Saturday June 18th in New York City. WBC and IBF champion Artur Beterbiev will be fighting WBO champion Joe Smith Jr to unify the light heavyweight titles.
Beterbiev is coming off a ninth round KO of Marcus Browne in December and is looking to defend his belts for the third time. The Russian is 17-0 with all 17 wins coming by KO and has been a light heavyweight champion since 2017.
The champion knows he has a tough test in Smith Jr. on Saturday. “Every fight in this position that I have is a challenge and I have to be prepared 100 per cent for every fight,” Beterbiev said. “Joe Smith is good. He has good experience in the professionals and he’s had good fights against good opponents.”
Many pundits believe Berterbiev should be on boxings pound for pound list, but the Russian fighter is not concerned with it. “Yes, I’m interested but I’m not dreaming about it,” explained the undefeated champion. “I do my work. If they put me pound-for-pound or not, I still do my work. And if one day they put me highest I’d be happy – but I’m not dreaming about it.”
The 37-year-old has won all of his fights in devastation fashion, and people have been calling him a beast. But he thinks of himself more as a boxer, not a bruiser. “No, I am not beast,” he said. “I’m nice guy. Maybe people like that or think that but I’m a very simple boxer.”
Smith Jr. won the vacant WBO light heavyweight title in April of 2021 with a majority decision victory over Maxim Vlasov. He then defended the belt in his last fight against late replacement Steve Geffard winning by ninth round TKO. He also previously fought for the WBA title in 2019 losing a unanimous decision to Dmitry Bivol. One thing the WBO champion has proven is that you can knock him down but he is nearly impossible to take out.
The 34-year-old feels he has something to prove on Saturday and is tired of his critics picking against him. Even his former opponent Bivol has picked Beterbiev to win the fight. Did the champion’s remarks bother Smith. “Yeah, a little bit,” Smith said. “You know, everyone’s doubting me once again in this fight. But, you know, just I hope to prove everybody wrong, I’m gonna give it my best. We’re going to train hard. And I know when the fight comes, I’m going to be physically and mentally prepared for it.”
While used to the underdog status Smith said, “But it’s getting old. “You know, I want to prove that I belong here at the top. And I’m hoping to, you know, take these guys all out. And you know, when Bivol said that too it hurt my feelings a little bit, so that’s even more of a reason why I want to get that rematch.”
A win on Saturday puts Smith in the position for a rematch with Bivol for the WBA belt and a chance to become undisputed champion. “If we can make that fight happen sooner than later that’s what I want. I want to become undisputed as quickly as possible,” declared Smith.
The Long Island native went on to say, “I want Bivol. I want that belt. I want to be undisputed. If I could get that fight, beat him, anything’s possible.”
Smith has certainly gained valuable experience in the ring win or lose. Aside from his defeat of Vlasov, he has key victories in his career over Eleider Alvarez, Jesse Hart, Bernard Hopkins and Adrzej Fonfara. While a win on Saturday in his own backyard would set him up nicely with a rematch against Bivol, there could be obstacles in the way.
The WBO has named Anthony Yarde as a mandatory challenger to the winner on Saturday with that fight to take place in October. Bivol has been linked to a rematch with Canelo Alvarez whom he shockingly defeated in May. So Smith Jr’s dreams of being undisputed champion will be on hold, at least for a little bit longer than he might want.
The fight can be seen on ESPN or ESPN +.
