Montreal, Canada resident Artur Beterbiev, World Boxing Council (WBC) as well as WBO and IBF unified light heavyweight world champion, will defend his belts against WBC No. 1 contender Callus “The World” Smith on Saturday, August 19th. Videotron Center in Quebec City, Canada.
The result will be particularly significant for Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KO), the only boxing world champion with a 100 percent knockout percentage. He has not fought in Quebec City since 2015, when he defeated Gabriel Campillo.
Beterbiev, a two-time Olympian, has lived in Montreal since a decade before turning professional. He made seven world title defenses since Enrico Koelling vacated the IBF title in November 2017. Beterbiev took the WBC belt with an impressive 2019 knockout of Oleksandr Gvozdyk, then added the WBO title to his collection. second with a strong performance in last year’s round against Joe Smith Jr.
He has only fought once in Canada as a world champion, a ninth-round TKO of Marc Browne in December 2021. Beterbiev followed up Smith’s victory with a youthful eighth-round knockout this January of Anthony Yarde in his hometown of London.
Smith (29-1, 21 KO) is the former middleweight champion of the world with wins over George Groves, Hassan N’Dam and John Ryder. His champion status ended in December 2019, when he lost a unanimous decision against “Canelo” Álvarez, in a unification title fight.
Smith moved up to Light Heavyweight following a loss to “Canelo” and posted victories over Gilberto Castello Rivera and Mathieu Bauderlique.
The full event of the Beterbiev-Smith card, which will also feature undefeated Super Middleweight Christian Mbilli (24-0, 20 KO’s), and heavy puncher Simon Kean (23-1, 22 KO’s), will be announced soon.
Local talents Wilkens Mathieu (2-0, 1 KO), Leïla Beandoin (9-1, 1 KO) and Clovis Drolet (13-1, 9 KO) will also fight in front of their hometown fans.
