Artur Beterbiev keeps 100% finish rate with 9th-straight world title win, stops Callum Smith in dominant showing
Top Rank boxing returned to us tonight, January 13, 2024, for a light-heavyweight title bout between WBC, WBO, and IBF 175 lb world champion Artur Beterbiev and former WBA and Ring Magazine middleweight champion Callum Smith.
Beterbiev came into the bout a perfect 19-0 thus far into his career, all 19 wins coming via knockout.
Smith on the other hand was coming in off back-to-back KO victories since moving up to light-heavyweight following the only defeat of his career in his title unifying effort against Canelo Alvarez back in December of 2020, coming in tonight with a record of 29-1 showcasing 21 career knockouts.
Beterbiev came out with a furious pace to begin the bout, landing heavy combinations at will right out of the gate, out-landing Smith 20-6 through the opening three minutes. He keeps this pace in rounds two and three, fighting behind his jab and doing a great job of hiding his overhands and hooks behind it, up until he puts Smith in real trouble in round four.
Though Smith was on wobbly legs in the fourth, he didn’t drop and made it to the end of the round, being out-struck 32-11 through minutes 9-12.
After more punishment is handed out by the champion in round five, Smith starts to put some heavy combinations of his own together in the sixth, looking great through the first half of it. However, Beterbiev puts his foot on the gas once again and fires back with great combinations of his own, likely stealing the round back.
Beterbiev badly hurt Smith in round seven, absolutely unloading on him before dropping the Englishman, becoming the first man to ever do so. Smith returns to his feet once the count reaches eight, but he hadn’t recovered in that short time and was immediately dropped again, his corner stopping the fight once they knew it was lost.
Official Result: Artur Beterbiev def. Callum Smith via TKO at 2:00 of round seven
The thudding jab and body shots played a key role in Artur Beterbiev breaking down Callum Smith before stopping him in round 7.#boxing pic.twitter.com/Hiquz08wYX
— Boxing SB (@BoxingSB22) January 14, 2024
Artur Beterbiev is a truly special talent in the sport of boxing.
At 38 years of age, just eight days shy of his 39th birthday, and not having fought in a year coming in, Beterbiev has shown no signs of slowing down. At this stage in his life and career, we’ve got to expect that any next fight of his might be the sign that father time remains undefeated.
Not yet however, as Beterbiev showcased a fast start tonight that broke Smith midway through the contest.
It’s incredible, Smith had never been dropped through his 30-fight professional career, nor his 86-fight amateur career, even Canelo Alvarez couldn’t drop him in their 12-round contest, and Beterbiev just did it twice inside of one minutes time.
Artur Beterbiev improves to 20-0 as a professional with this victory, this being his 20th career knockout, and his 9th-straight world title win.
Now it appears he’ll face fellow undefeated (22-0) Dmitry Bivol, current holder of the WBA and IBO light-heavyweight championships, in what will be one of the most meaningful undisputed championship bouts in recent memory.
Artur Beterbiev remains the only world champion in boxing with a 100% knockout ratio tonight with this dominant victory. And do you know what he attributed his performance and this win to? Luck. What a guy.
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