This past weekend it was announced that the unified three-belt light-heavyweight champion, Artur Beterbiev, who holds the WBC, WBO, and IBF world titles had announced the postponement of his title defense against WBC mandatory challenger, Callum Smith, which was scheduled for August 17th, and to be broadcast on ESPN.
The reason for the postponement comes after Beterbiev underwent a routine dental surgery and he was advised by his doctors that the bout should be pushed back due to the surgery.
Beterbiev took to his Instagram after the news was made public.
“Assalamu Alaikan, dear friends! Unfortunately, the fight that was scheduled for August 19th has had to be rescheduled," stated Beterbiev via his Instagram account.
Beterbiev is one of the most historically impressive modern fighters as he has won every single fight by knockout, as all nineteen of his fights have ended by way of knockout. This dogtails his great amateur record which saw him become an Olympian prior to going pro. Fun fact, Beterbiev lost to Oleksandr Usyk in the 2012 Olympics.
Earlier this year, Beterbiev traveled to London as he defeated Anthony Yarde by way of an eighth-round knockout win. The fight did leave many fans with more questions than answers as very few expected Yarde to test Beterbiev. This now has lingering questions following Beterbiev, who is in his late 30s, with some wondering if he is facing a decline.
His bout against former WBA super middleweight world champion, Callum Smith, proved to be one that would show an obvious trajectory.
One of Beterbiev's coaches, 'Iceman' John Scully took to Twitter to state the following.
Callum Smith had lost his WBA world title to Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez but has demonstrated power at his new weight class of light heavyweight including back-to-back stoppage victories. Smith has also only gone six rounds in his two fights at his new weight class.
No word as of yet on a timeline for when Beterbiev could return to action.
