Beterbiev dismantles Smith, retains titles with 7th-round TKO

Artur Beterbiev is a bad man.

Beterbiev defeated Callum Smith via TKO at the 2:00 mark of the seventh round to retain the WBC, IBF, and WBO light heavyweight titles Saturday night in Quebec City.

The Russian-Canadian boxer dropped Smith twice in the round. Smith returned to his feet both times, but trainer Buddy McGirt entered the ring after the second knockdown to call off the fight.

Beterbiev kept his 100% finish rate intact, scoring his 20th career knockout in as many matches.

The victory over Smith was potentially the last domino that needed to fall to make a long-awaited megafight with WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol happen in 2024. Promoter Eddie Hearn said earlier this week that Bivol signed a deal to fight Beterbiev and that Beterbiev still needed to agree to his pact.

Beterbiev said after the win that he "of course" wants to unify the titles with Bivol next, and his promoter, Top Rank's Bob Arum, also expressed interest in the fight.

"It's not done yet, but absolutely we want to do it," Arum said.

Beterbiev put on a clinic against Smith, becoming the first person to knock down the Englishman. He landed hard punches throughout the bout and busted up his opponent's face. Beterbiev hurt Smith with a barrage of shots against the ropes in Round 4 before finally putting him on the mat in the seventh.

This was Beterbiev's second defense of all three belts after adding the WBO strap to his mantle in 2022. The 38-year-old has held the IBF title since 2017 and the WBC title since 2019. Beterbiev improved to 20-0 with Saturday's victory.

Smith was riding a two-fight winning streak heading into the fight. This was the 33-year-old's first defeat since a unanimous decision loss to Canelo Álvarez in 2020 and the first stoppage loss of his career. Smith now holds a 29-2 pro record.