TOP Rank have gained the purse bids to stage Artur Beterbiev’s subsequent battle.
The world light-heavyweight champion will face WBC necessary challenger Callum Smith within the subsequent defence of his titles.
Beterbiev’s promoters outbid Smith’s backers Matchroom by $15,000 {dollars} with a successful bid of $2.115m.
Eddie Hearn had hoped to stage the battle in Liverpool however now his Scouse star might have to journey to America or Canada to problem Beterbiev.
Beterbiev 19-0 (19) was on UK shores for his final world title defence in January stopping Anthony Yarde in a brutal affair. The battle ended with an eighth-round stoppage win for the champ however not earlier than he had taken his justifiable share of lumps from the challenger who proved he belongs on the world stage.
Fans had hoped that an undisputed battle between Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol can be subsequent, however the World Boxing Council have vetoed any likelihood of that occuring. The sanctioning physique at the moment won’t enable Russian or Belarussian fighters take part in any of their bouts due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Mauricio Sulaiman informed ESPN, “This is absolutely sports-directed. There is no boxing in Ukraine because of the invasion. So as long as there’s no boxing in Ukraine, we cannot simply overlook and state that there’s boxing in Russia or Belarus from the WBC.”
Bivol and Beterbiev are each Russian, however the latter holds a Canadian passport, residency and boxing licence permitting him to proceed defending their 175lbs title.
Callum Smith 29-1 (21) will now go toe-to-toe with Beterbiev who’s unbeaten in 19 fights with every opponent unable to go the space. The British fighter, a former super-middleweight champion, is not any slouch within the punch energy division both as his final two performances have proven towards Gilbert Castillo Rivera and Mathieu Bauderlique. And regardless of having gone 12 rounds with Canelo Alvarez in 2020 this appears like being Smith’s hardest project but.
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