The trainer of Artur Beterviev, Marc Ramsay, has identified Callum Smith as the most dangerous opponent of the unified world light-heavyweight’s career and is giving Beterbiev (19-0 19KOs) all of his attention in the lead-up to the pair’s anticipated encounter on August 19th in Quebec City, Canada.
Smith (29-1 21KOs), who is a former WBA world super-middleweight champion, is the current mandatory challenger to Beterbiev within the WBC ratings. The one sole loss on the record of Smith came in December 2020 against Canelo Alvarez in a comfortable performance for Alvarez, who would claim a wide unanimous points decision to dethrone Smith of his WBA world title and claim the then vacant WBC world title in the process.
Following the defeat to Alvarez, Smith would claim two stoppage victories against Gilbert Rivera & Mathieu Bauderlique in 2021 & 2022 respectively, demonstrating this his power has carried up from the 168lb division as Smith introduced himself to the light-heavyweight division.
Beterbiev will be facing Smith following his win over another Briton in the form of Anthony Yarde and, despite a stoppage victory, was pushed throughout by Yarde over eight rounds in a thrilling encounter.
However, the main consensus ringside was that Beterbiev was showing signs of his age and slowing down, something which all fighters fear happening.
Ramsay is aware of this and is giving Beterbiev all of his attention in preparation for the contest and has even handed his exciting super-middleweight contender Christian Mbilli over to ProBox TV’s own Russ Abner and Samuel Décarie, to let them both prepare him for his own fight on the undercard.
Speaking to the Quebec Journal, Ramsay paid tribute to Smith and explained why he had to sacrifice Mbilli for the benefit of Beterbiev.
“Callum Smith is the best boxer we’ve faced,” said Ramsay to the Quebec Journal. “It’s not a situation that I like [to leave Mbilli with others], but the magnitude of this fight means that I can’t have my mind in several different places. All of my attention will be on Artur.
“Smith is a complete 6’3” boxer with a long reach. He has a lot of skill, speed and power. It’s a complex fight, but it’s a fascinating challenge for us.”
