Artur Beterbiev appointed second Briton

The next rival of the most titled Russian boxer Artur Beterbiev, who owns the champion titles of the World Boxing Council (WBC), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) in light heavyweight (up to 79.4 kg), will apparently be Briton Callum Smith – a very famous fighter who himself was a world champion. True, he made a career in the previous category, and moved to a new one quite recently.

World Boxing Council announced that he appointed a fight between the owner of his light heavyweight championship belt, Artur Beterbiev, and Callum Smith, who has the status of an official contender. The parties were given until April 11 to reach an agreement on the terms of the fight. If it is not possible to agree, a tender will be announced for its implementation.

At stake in this match will be three championship belts at once – WBC, IBF and WBO. All of them belong to Artur Beterbiev, who is a special figure in modern professional boxing.

Beterbiev has a unique track record. It doesn’t just consist solely of victories. All these 19 victories were won by the 38-year-old boxer ahead of schedule. Previous took place in January, when Beterbiev knocked out British WBO contender Anthony Yarde in the eighth round of a chic London fight.

The news published by the WBC means that the implementation of Arthur Beterbiev’s priority goal is most likely once again at least postponed indefinitely. He has repeatedly said that it consists in unifying all four titles in the category, and therefore, in a fight against another domestic superstar, the best fighter of 2022 in the classifications of most independent media resources, such as ESPN and The Ring, Dmitry Bivol. Various sources have made several suggestions as to why this match has not yet been organized. Some come down to problems related to the business interests of the promotional companies, some to “politics”. Since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the WBC has indeed taken a tough stance towards Russian boxers. The structure excluded them from its ratings, and its president, Maurcio Suleiman, admitted in an interview with Izquierdazo that he was against the participation of a fighter from Russia in the championship match. For Beterbiev, the WBC made an exception, since he has been living in Canada for a long time and has Canadian citizenship.

However, the fight between Artur Beterbiev and 32-year-old Callum Smith is a rather high-profile event. The thing is, Smith has a great reputation. He himself for some time at the end of the past decade owned the championship title, defeating celebrities like George Groves, Hassan Njikam and enjoying great popularity. a little spoiled his career is only a defeat in December 2020 from the Mexican Saul Alvarez, who was considered at that moment by far the best boxer in the world, regardless of the category. Smith lost to Alvarez, who was then beaten by Bivol, on points, but without much chance of making a breakthrough.

The problem is that this career developed within the framework of not light heavyweight, but super middleweight (up to 76.2 kg). Callum Smith retrained to light heavyweight as recently as 2021. Since then, he has managed to perform only twice in the new category. The performances were impressive: Dominican Lenin Castillo Smith knocked out in the second round, laying him flat on the floor, and Frenchman Mathieu Boderlik in the fourth, beautifully catching a left hook. But it must be taken into account that neither one nor the other opponent was among the elite, and in general, with a puncher, in terms of a level at least close to Beterbiev, the Briton has not yet crossed paths.

Alexey Dospekhov