Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr in play for December
IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev will face Joe Smith Jr by the end of the year, says promoter Yvon Michel.
Beterbiev is coming off of a fourth round knockout stoppage against Callum Johnson on October 6. In that fight, the champion hit the mat before coming back to score the victory.
Smith is a long time contender who rose to fame after knocking out Andrzej Fonfara in one round back in June 2016. He then followed up that impressive victory by knocking Bernard Hopkins out of the ring six months later. Recently, he stopped Melvin Russell in the first round.
The match against Smith would take place on either December 15 or 22 at Madison Square Garden or Atlantic City.
Things start to get interesting here as Beterbiev is co-promoted by Eddie Hearn. Hearn has a streaming deal with DAZN that recently launched. Michel revealed that a potential unification bout with Bivol would air on DAZN.
Beterbiev-Smith potentially taking place on the Canelo vs Rocky Fielding under-card could mean DAZN is likely to broadcast the entire Canelo-Fielding card.
3kingsboxing.com will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as they become available.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
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