Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr takes the light-heavyweight division one step closer to becoming undisputed on June 18.
It’s now official the WBC and IBF champion Artur Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs) will face WBO titlist Joe Smith Jr (28-3, 22 KOs) on June 18, at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden, New York, USA
With Dmitry Bivol upsetting the odds and retaining his WBA title with a masterful unanimous decision victory over Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas in May, the door opens for the possibility of an undisputed fight. With Canelo opting to fight GGG in September the winner of Beterbiev vs Smith next fight could be the Russian for all the belts.
Smith Jr, 32, will go into the fight against Beterbiev as an underdog. The Long Islander won his belt when he got the better of Maxim Vlasov in April 2021. Ironically Canelo vacated the title he won against Sergey Kovalev allowing Smith Jr and Vlasov to contest it.
Britain’s Callum Johnson had been set to face Smith Jr in January but withdrew due to Covid-19 issues. Steve Geffrard stepped in as the replacement but was knocked out in the 9th round.
Beterbiev, now 37, has been an unstoppable force in the division. No-one has gone the full distance with the Russian. Enrico Koelling came closest in November 2017 when the vacant IBF title was on the line, but Beterbiev got to him in round 12 to become champion. He then made two defences before unifying the division in a brutal clash against Oleksandr Gvozdyk in October 2019 to add the WBC belt to his name.
Read Boxing Social’s Beterbiev vs Smith article for all the details on how to watch, UK and US times and full undercard.