Callum Smith v Artur Beterbiev canned after serious injury
- Planet Sport writer
- 31 July 2023
British hopeful Callum Smith will have to wait for a shot at the WBC, WBO and IBF light heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev after the latter has been forced to go under the knife.
Callum Smith v world champion Artur Beterbiev has been shelved, for now...
The 33-year-old Smith had been set for a title bout in Quebec on August 19 but has now seen the fight cancelled as Beterbiev has undergone surgery on a jaw injury.
Smith had won a title eliminator against Mathieu Bauderlique on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk in Jeddah last August.
The Briton will now be made to wait for his title shot with no date set for the rearranged bout.
Beterbiev is a Russian-born Canadian fighter who is the only world champion with a 100 per-cent knockout ratio.
Smith has lost just once in his professional career, losing the WBA super-middleweight title to Canelo Alvarez in 2020.
