On Saturday night, we will have a unified light heavyweight title fight live from the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Canada, on ESPN+. Unified champion Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOS) will defend his titles against Callum Smith (29-1, 21 KOs) in the first intriguing matchup of the year.
Beterbiev, now 38 years old and has fought once a year since 2021, will have his hands full as Smith is a 6’3” light heavyweight. Beterbiev was last in the ring close to 12 months ago when he stopped Anthony Yarde in the eighth round of their fight. Although Beterbiev earned the victory, Yarde had more moments than anyone expected, making the Smith fight one to watch. Is Beterbiev slipping just a bit, or was Yarde better prepared than anticipated and gave the champion a great fight?
🇷🇺 Beterbiev VS Smith 🇬🇧 ⁰⁰🏆 WBC Light Heavyweight Title
— World Boxing Council (@WBCBoxing) January 8, 2024
📍 Videotron Centre. Quebec, Canada.
🗓️ Saturday. January 13, 2024.
🕰️ Start Time 22:00 ET
📺 ESPN+ in US and Latinamerica. Sky Sports in UK.#wbcboxing #BeterbievSmith pic.twitter.com/xnRXkoQ3R9
Smith started his light heavyweight campaign after losing to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in December 2020. Since then, he has only fought twice, but both fights resulted in a stoppage. Smith believes this is a more natural weight class for him at this point of his career, and he will serve as one of Beterbiev’s toughest tests. Can Smith come out victorious and disrupt the potential plans for an undisputed fight between Beterbiev and Bivol?
ARTUR BETERBIEV VS. CALLUM SMITH BETTING ODDS
Per BetOnline.ag, Artur Beterbiev is the favorite at -450 (Over 8 ½ rounds -125), and Callum Smith is the underdog at +325 (Under 8 ½ rounds -105).
🚨 PROGRAMMING ALERT 🚨
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) January 7, 2024
Beterbiev vs Smith: A Tale of 10 Punches debuts tonight at 8:30PM ET on ESPN2 🎬 pic.twitter.com/eBYfyiTfMF
ARTUR BETERBIEV VS. CALLUM SMITH DATE, START TIME
- Date: Saturday, January 13
- Start time: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT
- Main event ringwalks (approx): 12:00 a.m. ET / 9:00 p.m. PT
These timings could change due to the length of the undercard fights.
WHAT CHANNEL/STREAM IS ARTUR BETERBIEV VS. CALLUM SMITH?
- U.S.: ESPN+
- UK: Sky Sports
FIGHT WEEK FROM QUEBEC 👑#BeterbievSmith | JAN 13 | @ESPN pic.twitter.com/6oRW2FUdGf
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) January 8, 2024
ARTUR BETERBIEV VS. CALLUM SMITH FIGHT CARD
- Artur Beterbiev vs. Callum Smith for IBF, WBC and WBO world light heavyweight titles
- Jason Moloney vs Saul Sanchez for WBO bantamweight title
- Christian Mbilli vs Rohan Murdock
- Imam Khataev vs Rodolfo Gomez Jr
- Christopher Guerrero vs Sergio Garcia Herrera
- Mehmet Unal vs Dragan Lepei
- Leila Beaudoin vs Elizabeth Chavez Espinoza
- Moreno Fendero vs Victor Hugo Flores
- Wilkens Mathieu vs TBA
