Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Callum Smith blames his loss to unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev on being out of the ring for 17 months and not having any training for 5-6 weeks in camp for their clash on January 13.
The consequences of the loss of Beterbiev
In that fight, everything went wrong for Smith (30-2, 22 KOs). Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) knocked him out in seven rounds and made him look like an average fighter.
Callum bounced back from that loss, knocking out little-known Colombian journeyman Carlos Galván (20-15-2, 19 KOs) in the fifth round on November 30 last year.
Next up for Smith, 34, is interim WBO light heavyweight champion Joshua Buatsi on the Feb. 22 Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 in Riyadh. If Callum can win this fight against the undefeated Buatsi (19-0, 13 KOs), he can earn an eventual title shot against the winner of the Beterbiev-Bivol 2 rematch.
Few boxing fans believe Smith will defeat tough 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Buatsi. Buatsi can hit, has a strong chin and is aggressive. In his last fight, he walked through hell, defeating Willy Hutchinson by split decision in 12 rounds on September 21 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Hutchinson, who is not known for being a bit of a puncher, hurt Buatsi several times in the fight simply by staying in the fight and continually shooting at him. However, there were times when it looked like Buatsi was about to knock him out. The blows Joshua landed on Hutchinson in that fight would probably have been too much for Callum, and he would have surely retired.
No more excuses
“I hate fighters who make excuses, but I was out of the ring for 17 months, and then you think, ‘I’ll have a lot of sparring,’ but I didn’t. I didn’t do any sparring for five or six weeks before. “I didn’t prepare that well,” Callum Smith told Sky Sports Boxing about why he lost to unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev last year on January 13.
“So the preparation was not ideal. He had been out of the ring for 17 months. I really couldn’t afford to postpone it again and have him out of the ring for two years. That was the challenge. He had the belts, he was the champion. You live and learn.
“I thought I would do well that night and I didn’t. I lost the fight and paid the price. I went out and evaluated what went wrong. I think I have“I corrected it, I’ve improved and I’m a better fighter because of it,” Smith said.
It sure seems like Callum is making excuses for his loss. Well, I guess he has to say something to try to make sense of what happened to him in his loss to Beterbiev. It’s called “ego protection.”
“I didn’t do any sparring for five or six weeks before” 🗣️
Callum Smith talks about his loss to Artur Beterbiev. pic.twitter.com/4j3CdyWOd7
– Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) January 14, 2025
