Callum Smith will take on the undefeated Pawel Stepien on March 11 as he looks to prepare for a potential shot at unified light heavyweight champion of the world Artur Beterbiev.
In what will be his third fight at 175lbs, Smith will be confident of maintaining his 100% knockout rate since moving up from super middleweight before a career defining night against Beterbiev in the summer.
Although he has never tasted defeat, Stepien has never boxed anyone close to the level of Smith, who will also have the advantage of being in front of a home crowd at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. The event will be broadcast exlusively on DAZN.
Despite being a former world champion at 168lbs, ‘Mundo’ has looked in the form of his life since campaigning at a higher weight division and has said in recent interviews he has all the confidence in the world of stopping Beterbiev’s fearsome reign.
However, he knows he can ill afford to overlook the unknown quantity that Stepien represents. All of his fights have taken place in his native Poland and there is little footage of him available.
As mandatory challenger for Beterbiev’s WBC strap, a date with ‘King Artur’ almost certainly lays in waiting for later in the year for Smith, provided he gets past Stepien.
After Liam Smith secured arguably a career best win against Chris Eubank Jr in January, 2023 has the potential to be a fruitful year for the famous fighting family – but that all could unravel quickly should younger brother Callum take his eye off Stepien in just over a month’s time.
The undercard will feature Australia’s WBO Global Super-Lightweight Champion Liam Paro facing Robbie Davies Jr and Diego Pacheco against Jack Cullen for the WBO international super middleweight title. Johnny Fisher and Campbell Hatton also return with opponents yet to be announced.