THE RESULT: Artur Beterbiev retains his trio of world light-heavyweight belts in Quebec City dropping Callum Smith twice in spherical seven. Smith’s coach Buddy McGirt signalled to referee Michael Griffin he had seen sufficient after the second knockdown.
KEY MOMENTS: The 20-second burst of photographs from Beterbiev in the opening spherical. It was a sign of intent from the harmful Russian. In spherical 4 he dismissed the dimensions benefit of Smith by sticking to him like Velcro touchdown heavy photographs in shut quarters forcing the Brit into retreat.
RECORDS: Beterbiev’s flawless file hits 20-0 (20). Smith suffers his second loss at elite stage and now sits at 29-2 (21)
TALKING POINT: The 18ft ring which stunned some beforehand. A measurement made for a tear-up, however Beterbiev left with barely a mark on him which has been uncommon in his profession.
QUOTABLE: “He gave me good fight, he stayed strong, but luck is on my side,” the winner stated afterwards. And when requested a couple of battle towards Dmitry Bivol, he responded “Yes, of course. I need another [fourth] belt.”
Beterbiev’s promoter Bob Arum additionally gave his enter on the matter. “It’s not done yet. We want to do it. I’ll be talking to my friend His Excellency (Turki Alalshikh). I know he wants to do it, but Ramadan is coming. About three months after the end of Ramadan we’ll be ready to fight Bivol.”
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Having held all 4 light-heavyweight belts between them for therefore lengthy Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol should battle each other subsequent. There isn’t any cause for them to not. This was solely Callum Smith’s third battle at 175lbs. An energetic 12 months towards good opposition will preserve him in the hunt if the belts grow to be fractured in 2025.
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