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Artur Beterbiev is the only legitimate champion in boxing who has knocked out every opponent he has faced in a professional fight.
Joe Smith Jr. has not been truly knocked out in 31 pro bouts. The only time Smith was stopped inside the distance was when, as a 6-0 prospect in August 2010, he suffered a broken jaw during the second round against Eddie Caminero, who won by fourth-round technical knockout once Smith succumbed to extreme pain.
Something must give when they fight Saturday night, but Beterbiev isn’t focused on extending his knockout streak to 18.
“If it happens, it happens,” Beterbiev told BoxingScene.com. “If not, like I’ve said before, I’m not dreaming about knockouts. We had an eight-week camp. We did some work and I’ll try to show this work the night of June 18th. That’s it.”
Though three of his past six fights have entered at least the 10th round, the 37-year-old Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs) seems determined to show more dimensions to his game against Smith.
“We have different strategies and tactics,” Beterbiev said. “We did a lot of work. I need to show these things June 18th, not only for the fans or my opponent, for me, too, for my team, too. It’s more important for me.”
The 32-year-old Smith is one of the hardest punchers in the light heavyweight division as well.
Smith (28-3, 22 KOs), of Mastic, New York, impressively became the first opponent to stop former WBO champ Eleider Alvarez, whom Smith beat by ninth-round technical knockout in their WBO elimination match in August 2020. He previously knocked out heavily favored Andrzej Fonfara and legend Bernard Hopkins, who was 51 at that time, in back-to-back non-title fights in 2016.
“He’s a strong guy,” Beterbiev said. “He’s had good experience as a professional. He had fights with good opponents. We’re gonna see.”
The Russian-born, Montreal-based Beterbiev, a 2012 Olympian, and Smith will fight for Beterbiev’s IBF and WBC belts and Smith’s WBO title. Multiple sportsbooks have installed Beterbiev as at least an 8-1 favorite over Smith.
ESPN will televise their 12-round title unification fight as the main event of a doubleheader scheduled to start at 10 p.m. ET from Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in Manhattan.
Smith, from nearby Long Island, will box before his hometown fans for the first time in more than six years.
“I’m sure he believes he can [knock me out],” Smith said, “and he’s gonna do his best to do that, to keep his knockout streak going. But I’m gonna do everything I can to prevent that from happening.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.