Artur Beterbiev Debuts On The P4P List

Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) put together a demolition job last night against Callum Smith (29-2, 21 KOs)in their unified light heavyweight title fight. Smith had never been down in a professional fight, and Beterbiev’s onslaught forced him to go down not once but twice. Although Smith showed courage to get up from Beterbiev’s devastating offense, his trainer, Buddy McGirt, saw enough and wanted to save his fighter from further damage so he hopped onto the apron and waved it off in the seventh round.

The fight wasn’t a war, and from the start, Beterbiev tried to test Smith to see if he could get him out of there early in the first round. When Smith passed the test, Beterbiev started to crush Smith with some vicious body shots, and when those weren’t available, he would go upstairs and frustrate Smith with a power left jab. As the rounds continued to go by, Smith’s face looked worse and worse, with his body taking a beating from the Beterbiev power shots. If anyone was looking for the 38-year-old unified champion to look old, they were greatly disappointed as Beterbiev looked like his usual destructive self.

Will Artur Beterbiev enter the top ten P4P rankings after last night?

Not that it’s been his fault, but Beterbiev hasn’t exactly fought A-list opponents in the last few years. Former WBO champion Joe Smith Jr. was the biggest name on his recent resume, next to Anthony Yarde. Beterbiev needed this win over Smith to erase any doubt that he should be included in the top ten pound-for-pound rankings. Where exactly does he fall within the rankings? He should fall right around number seven behind WBC junior welterweight champion Devin Haney. Beterbiev and WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol will likely face off for the undisputed title later this year in Saudi Arabia, and the winner of that fight will have an argument for a spot in the top five of the rankings.

Regardless of what the WBC said last year about not sanctioning an undisputed light heavyweight title fight between Beterbiev and Bivol, it’s clear that all roads are leading towards a fight between them that will finally answer the question of who is truly the king at 175 pounds.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

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