The light-heavyweight division will go one step further to becoming undisputed on June 18.
WBC and IBF champion Artur Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs) will face WBO tennis player Joe Smith Jr (28-3, 22 KOs) on June 18 according to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger.
While a venue has not been confirmed, the game looks set to be in New York giving Smith a home field advantage.
The other world championship deal at 175lbs will close on May 7 when Dmitry Bivol defends his WBA crown against Canelo Alvarez. Mexico promoter Eddie Hearn has said that Canelo plans to become the undisputed two-weight champion after going all out ahead of him at 168lbs.
Smith Jr, 32, will join the fight against Beterbiev as the underdog. Long Islander won his belt when he beat Maxim Vlasov in April 2021. Ironically, Canelo vacated the title he won against Sergey Kovalev to let Smith Jr and Vlasov compete for the title.
Britain’s Callum Johnson was set to face Smith Jr in January but withdrew due to Covid-19 issues. Steve Geffrard came on as a substitute but was eliminated in round 9order ring.
Beterbiev, now 37 years old, is an unstoppable force in the division. No one has come all the way with the Russians. Enrico Koelling came closest in November 2017 when an empty IBF title was on the way, but Beterbiev overtook him in the 12th round to become the champion. He then made two defenses before uniting the division in a brutal clash with Oleksandr Gvozdyk in October 2019 to add the WBC belt to his name.
