Callum Smith believes his destiny is to become a two-weight world champion.
The Liverpudlian has lost just once in his professional career and returns on Saturday.
Smith features as part of the supporting cast to Anthony Joshua’s bid to regain the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO world heavyweight titles in a rematch against Oleksandr Usyk.
He takes on France’s former European champion Mathieu Bauderlique, an Olympic bronze medallist, in a final eliminator for the WBC light-heavyweight world title that is currently in the custody of Russian powerhouse Artur Beterbiev.
At the final press conference, Smith said:
“It’s a must-win. I think every fight is a must-win at this stage in your career. I’m in a busy division, a packed division where there’s a lot of fighters waiting for a shot at the world title.”
‘Mundo’ has been out for 11 months, since last September when he iced Lenin Castillo inside two rounds on his 175-pound debut at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
That fight came on the undercard of Ukrainian Usyk’s dethroning of ‘AJ’ 11 months ago and Smith knows the stakes are high against a man who is “always here to win and ready for a good fight.”
“A loss here puts me at the back of the queue – and it’s a very big queue to go to the back of,” Smith added. “A win here puts me at the front of the queue, it puts me next in line to fight for the world title. That’s the goal. I’ve been there before down at 168 and I believe I’m good enough to do it at 175.”
Smith will return to the same arena as where he had his greatest night as a pro to date, the same venue as where he dethroned George Groves of the WBA Super world super-middleweight title and added it to the WBC Diamond crown in the final of the World Boxing Super Series back in 2018.
“It’s a must-win and I’m excited, it’s a big show and a big platform to perform on. Hopefully, I can get the business done and move on to a world title. It’s been good to be here and good to get back here.
“Obviously, I’ve got the best memories from being here, becoming a world champion. There’s a good buzz around the place this time around.
“It’s a great main event but I’m here to do a job and that’s winning. I left here last time as a world champion and I believe I’ll leave here this time ready to fight for a new one.”