News emerged recently that Callum Smith’s world light-heavyweight title shot at Artur Beterbiev had been postponed after the champion suffered an infection in his jaw, but Smith thinks the delay could give him an advantage.
Fearsome puncher Beterbiev currently holds the WBC, WBO and IBF titles, and the fight was set for August 20 at Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada. He underwent surgery in late July and a new date has yet to be announced.
Beterbiev is famously the only world champion with a 100% knockout ratio having floored all 19 of his opponents to date, including an action-packed eight-round win over Brit Anthony Yarde in January 2023.
Liverpudlian Smith is the mandatory challenger to the WBC belt and was last out in August 2022 when he stopped Mathieu Bauderlique. He was asked about the delay by Boxing News.
“It’s not ideal but hopefully we can come to some sort of agreement where I can get back active or Beterbiev’s not out too long.”
Former WBA and Ring Magazine super-middleweight champion Smith was then asked if he will be more confident when it comes back around as it will mean Beterbiev will also likely have been inactive for over a year.
“Possibly. They say everything happens for a reason. I was confident of going in there and beating him. I wasn’t going in there hoping he’d aged and that was my only chance. I believed I could beat him regardless.
It could be a bit different now, him going into the fight with potentially a year outside the ring at his age and me going into it with inactivity so hopefully the roles could switch and it might put it a little bit back more in my favourer.
But it’s a tough fight regardless. He’s the best in the world for a reason. But I’ve always felt I’ve got the beating of him.”
Smith will be hoping his chance to become a two-division world champion comes back around before too long.