Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith Betting Tips

With the current Saudi investment, boxing is on the up right now, possibly more than ever before. We were treated to the fantastic card on December 23rd which featured the likes of Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Joseph Parker, Daniel Dubois, Dmitry Bivol, Jai Opetaia and Filip Hrgovic amongst others. In February we have Tyson Fury v Oleksandr Usyk to crown an undisputed heavyweight king for the first time since Lennox Lewis, and then in March we get to see if Francis Ngannou is the real deal when he takes on Anthony Joshua.

But first, we have a huge match on the opposite side of the world; Canada.

Russian-Canadian undefeated, unified light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev defends his WBC, IBF and WBO titles against Liverpool’s Callum Smith. 

Smith, from the proud boxing family of brothers, has only one defeat to his name himself and that was against the world class Canelo Alvarez, losing his WBA (Super) and the Ring super-middleweight titles in the process. It was George Groves, of course, that Smith beat to win those titles, showing that he has the ability to beat genuine top class opposition.

Since that loss, Smith has stepped up from super-middleweight to the light-heavyweight division, having two fights so far and winning both. First, he defeated Lenin Castillo via TKO, then he knocked out Mathieu Bauderlique in the fourth round. The Bauderlique victory was especially impressive as the French southpaw had only tasted one defeat in his twenty fights up to that point.

Beterbiev already has British opposition on his resume, having stopped both Callum Johnson and Anthony Yarde, and he has built up a really fearsome reputation; some regard him as the scariest man in boxing. The powerful Beterbiev has 19 wins from 19 in his career, all coming via way of knockout. Smith has a very decent knockout ratio of his own, with 21 of his 29 wins coming via stoppage.

Both men are going to potentially have a lot of ring rust to shake off, though. They were originally scheduled to fight on August 19th 2023, but had to postpone it as Beterbiev required jaw surgery due to a bone infection. The delay means it will be almost a year since Beterbiev last fought, against Yarde on 28th January 2023, while it’s over 16 months since Smith stepped in the ring, against Bauderlique.

Indeed, due to injuries to himself and to potential opponents, Smith has had just 3 fights in just over 4 years, which is far from ideal. Lack of real fights can do serious harm to a boxer’s chances, but on the positive side, it has given him time to recover fully from his own injuries and he won’t have as much wear and tear as other fighters might have by this stage of their career. 

Something has got to give this weekend, as Smith has never lost by knockout, and Beterbiev has never lost, and only ever won by knockout.

Win Market

Artur Beterbiev 1/4 (Ladbrokes)

Callum Smith 7/2 (BetFred)

Draw 22/1 (Coral)

(Please note all odds are correct at time of article publishing)

If you fancy Callum Smith to get the win, then you might like to take the 7/2 offered by BetFred. 

We just can’t back against Beterbiev, though. The one chance Smith could have is that Old Father Time has caught up with Beterbiev, but no signs of that have ever been apparent. How can you back against an unbeaten, unified champion who has won every single fight via KO/TKO?!

However, the 1/4 just isn’t worth backing, unless you’re going to be betting big money. So, we need to look to other markets.

Method of Victory

Artur Beterbiev by KO, TKO or Disqualification 1/2 (Coral)

Artur Beterbiev by Decision or Technical Decision 5/1 (Bet365)

Callum Smith by KO, TKO or Disqualification 6/1 (Ladbrokes)

Betting Recommendations

Artur Beterbiev to win via KO/TKO/DQ 1/2 (Coral) 5 points

Artur Beterbiev Round 7-12 5/4 (Coral) 3 points

Artur Beterbiev Round 9-12 12/5 (Ladbrokes) 1 point

An expected win for Beterbiev will surely, finally set up the super fight that we need in the light-heavyweight division; Dmitry Bivol v Artur Beterbiev to decide the unanimous light-heavy champions. As we finally seem to be getting towards a unanimous heavyweight champion, it would be great if the light-heavyweight division could have a decisive answer as to who is the best before the end of 2024.

For ‘Mundo’ this could be his last chance to become a two weight world champion.