Joe Smith realized a dream by winning a world title but 'I have a new goal in mind'

Plus much more on the Beterbiev-Smith light heavyweight unification fight

Jun 18, 2022

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For many years Joe Smith Jr. maintained a singular goal for his boxing career. It was to win a light heavyweight world title.

He got an opportunity to fight for one in March 2019, but lost a wide decision to WBA titlist Dmitry Bivol despite badly hurting him at the end of the 10th round.

He continued to pursue the goal and rebounded with strong victories in a decision over Jesse Hart and a highlight-reel knockout of former world titlist Eleider “Storm” Alvarez to put himself in position for another opportunity.

Smith did not let the chance get away from him when he got it and in April 2021 he grinded out a hard majority decision win over Maxim Vlasov to win the vacant WBO 175-pound title.

Goal achieved. But now what for the 32-year-old “Common Man” from New York’s Long Island?

“Everything I’ve accomplished led me to a world title and I’m glad I accomplished that by becoming a world champion and now I have a new goal in mind,” Smith said. “I want to just keep working towards it and be the best I can be.”

That new goal is to unify world titles.

After making his first defense in January by one-sided ninth-round knockout of Steve Geffrard, a late replacement for Callum Johnson, who had come down with Covid-19, Smith pushed for a unification fight with WBC/IBF champion Artur Beterbiev, which Beterbiev was also very interested in.

“For awhile my team knew I wanted to fight Beterbiev and top guys,” Smith said. “I want to unify the division as quickly as possible. There hasn’t been a (four-belt) unified champion in the light heavyweight division so I would like to be the first to do it. But we got a long way to go.”

Smith will have his chance to move close to that new goal when he faces fearsome puncher Beterbiev to unify their three belts in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Saturday (ESPN/ESPN Deportes/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET) at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I got to get past Beterbiev. He’s a tough guy, but my team got it together quick. (Star Boxing promoter) Joe DeGuardia, he got on the phone and was making calls. I believe if I can beat Beterbiev and Bivol I could be recognized as one of the best light heavyweights ever,” said Smith, whose aim is to win Saturday and have a rematch with Bivol for the undisputed championship.

They are lofty goals but Smith, a tremendous puncher in his own right, is a decided underdog against Beterbiev, 37, a two-time Russian Olympian based in Montreal, in a fight most expect to be action-packed for as long as it lasts.

But mention his underdog status to him and Smith (28-3, 22 KOs) will literally laugh. He’s been down that road before.

An obscure fighter at the time, Smith was a massive underdog when he obliterated Andrzej Fonfara in the first round on national television in June 2016.

That victory led Bernard Hopkins, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last Sunday, to hand pick Smith to be his farewell opponent six months later. Again, Smith was the underdog and all he did was brutally knock Hopkins out of the ring in the eighth round and send him into retirement. Smith was the underdog against Hart as well and outpointed the Philadelphia contender.

So what about being the ‘dog again against Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs), who is the only active champion with a perfect knockout record?

“We both hit very hard but we’re also both very tough guys,” Smith said. “He’s been hurt before and he came back stronger in the next round where he looked great. I’ve been in tough fights where I pulled through and came back stronger in the next round, so the fight could be up and down. You don’t really know what’s going to happen. We both can box, we both have experience. I’ve been in a lot of big fights now so I feel I am ready for this and I can’t wait to see what happens.

“With our styles, it’s definitely going to be a crowd-pleasing fight. We’re both tough guys. We both have the will to win and we’re both very strong. I think the key for me to come out with a victory is for me to stay calm, relaxed, and patient and take it round by round, and I believe I’ll do it.”

Beterbiev’s take

Beterbiev will be making his sixth overall title defense and third of his unified belts.

He unified titles with a 10th-round knockout of Oleksandr Gvozdyk in October 2019, after which Gvozdyk retired.

Then he had a Russian homecoming fight — his only pro bout there — in March 2021 and stopped mandatory challenger and countryman Adam Deines in the 10th round. He followed with his first world title fight in his adopted hometown of Montreal in December, when he knocked out 2012 U.S. Olympian Marcus Browne in the ninth round of a bloody fight.

“This is a very important fight for me,” Beterbiev said of facing Smith. “I always ask my boxing coach and my conditioning coach about how I’m doing. I ask them if it’s less than I was doing two years ago. They tell me that I’m doing better than two years ago.

“If we compare it to the last one, this camp went very well. This camp was better. We are both ready for this fight. I think it’s going to be a good fight. We will see. I can’t predict the future. I’m just a boxer.”

Smith wants Bivol rematch

If Smith is able to get past Beterbiev he wants to unify with Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs), 31, of Russia, for the undisputed crown in a rematch of Smith’s 2019 decision loss.

“If I have three belts and he’s already beaten me in the past why wouldn’t he think he can still beat me and want a shot at three championships,” Smith said. “I got to focus on Beterbiev and make it through him in a tough, tough fight. I can’t expect to just walk through him but I’m hoping I can pull it off and make all this happen.”

Smith said he was not surprised that Bivol outpointed undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in an upset in May.

“I thought he put on another great show. I kind of expected him to pull out on top in that fight,” Smith said.

Anthony Yarde in the wings

While an undisputed title fight with Bivol would be of interest, Saturday’s winner is more likely to face WBO mandatory challenger Anthony Yarde next.

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who promotes Beterbiev and is the co-promoter of Smith with DeGuardia, said that Yarde and representatives from his promoter, Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, will be ringside on Saturday.

Arum said the winner likely would fight Yarde (22-2, 21 KOs), 30, later this year. If it’s Beterbiev, Arum said the fight would be in Yarde’s home country of England, which would mean a prime time event for BT Sport (Warren’s broadcaster) in the U.K. and a late afternoon/early evening event on ESPN+ in the United States. If Smith is the winner, the location could be in the U.S. or U.K.

Yarde got a mandatory WBO title shot in 2019 and was stopped in the 11th round by then-titleholder Sergey Kovalev in a competitive fight.

“Yarde will be at the fight on Saturday night and we expect him to fight the winner next,” Arum said. “If it’s Beterbiev we will do that fight in the U.K. If Smith is the winner, (Smith and DeGuardia) might want to have the fight at the Garden.”

Arum’s high expectations

Arum has staged numerous light heavyweight title fights during his 50-plus-year career and believes Beterbiev-Smith will produce great action.

“At my age (90), this fight brings me back so many decades to when Top Rank promoted the leading light heavyweights in the world like Bob Foster, Matthew Saad Muhammad, John Conteh, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Marvin Johnson,” Arum said. “The light heavyweight division has given people who follow boxing great thrills for as long as I’ve been promoting fights. Now we have this fight, which will go into the annals like all the great light heavyweight fights of the past and may even be the one that is the greatest.

“Joe Smith is a tremendous fighter. He has a big heart. He has a lot of skills and a lot of punching power. And what can I say about Artur Beterbiev? He really epitomizes the ferocity that light heavyweights have been known for — tremendous puncher, big heart, a guy who refuses to lose. Nothing can be better than this. I predict that this fight will be considered the fight of the year for 2022.”

Weigh-in

The co-feature: Robeisy Ramirez vs. Abraham Nova

Weights from New York for the Top Rank card on Saturday (ESPN, 10 p.m. ET): Artur Beterbiev 175 pounds, Joe Smith Jr. 174.6 WBC/IBF/WBO light heavyweight unification); Robeisy Ramirez 125.8, Abraham Nova 125.4; Bruce Carrington 127.4, Adrian Leyva 127.4; Jahi Tucker 147.8, D'Andre Smith 147.6; Floyd Diaz 121.6, Daniil Platonovschi 122; Troy Isley 158.6, Donte Stubbs 161.6; Wendy Toussaint 152.2, Asinia Byfield 152.8; Jahyae Brown 153.2, Keane McMahon.

Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank and Sumio Yamada/WBC

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