Artur Beterbiev further unified the light heavyweight division, adding Joe Smith Jr’s WBO belt to his WBC and IBF straps with a spectacular second round win at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday.
Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) came into this bout with a 100% knockout record, and had won his IBF belt in 2017, whilst he added the WBC title in October 2019 with a stoppage of Oleksandr Gvozdyk. Smith Jr (28-4, 22 KOs) took the vacant WBO title in April last year, with a majority decision win over Maxim Vlasov.
Beterbiev caught Smith Jr with a right hand within seconds of the opening bell, and although the Long Island man came forward, and landed some meaty blows of his own in the first frame, he was floored for the first time in his career by a short, sneaky right hand right on the bell.
It was a flash knockdown, and the 32-year-old continued, and decided to go toe-to-toe with Beterbiev to start round two, and that came at a cost, as a counter right hand had him on the deck again.
Again, Smith Jr survived the count, but the Russian-born Canadian was overwhelming him, and another series of power punches, a right-left combination this time, had him over for a third time.
Smith Jr simply couldn’t get out the way of the punches, and a jarring uppercut had him unsteady on his feet, and the referee had seen enough, waving the fight off.
Thoughts quickly turned to a mouth-watering undisputed title clash with WBA ‘super’ champion, Dmitry Bivol, although a meeting with WBO number one contender, Anthony Yarde, who was ringside, is likely to be next, however Beterbiev’s preference is an undisputed clash with Bivol, who produced a stunning win over Canelo Alvarez in May.
Artur Beterbiev is one bad, bad man 😳@BoostMobile x #BeterbievSmith pic.twitter.com/wwIjgjeXk3
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 19, 2022
“Unification fights are more interesting, more motivating,” the 37-year-old told ESPN post-fight.
“I prefer [to] unify fight. I want to be undisputed.”
Ramirez blasts out Nova
Double Olympic gold medalist, Robeisy Ramirez (10-1, 6 KOs) took the vacant WBO Global featherweight title, securing a fifth round knockout win against the previously unbeaten Abraham Nova (21-1, 15 KOs).
STATEMENT MADE 😱@RobeisyRamirez x #BeterbievSmith pic.twitter.com/bAogVcPpUT
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 19, 2022
It was a devastating finish, as the Cuban detonated a huge left hook that flattened Nova on impact.
Remaining Undercard
At super welterweight, Wendy Toussaint (14-1, 6 KOs) took an eight round decision win over Asinia Byfield (15-5-1, 7 KOs) by three scores of 79-73, and at welterweight, Jahi Tucker (8-0, 5 KOs) remained unbeaten with a fourth round stoppage of D’Andre Smith (11-2, 5 KOs).
At middleweight, Troy Isley (6-0, 4 KOs) also stayed unbeaten, halting Donte Stubbs (6-6, 2 KOs) in the sixth and final round.
Super welterweight Jahyae Brown (11-0, 8 KOs) took a points win over six against Keane McMahon (7-3, 4 KOs), and at super featherweight, Floyd Diaz (5-0, 1 KO) did the same against Daniil Platonovschi (4-1, 2 KOs).
Bruce Carrington (4-0, 3 KOs) forced Adrian Leyva (3-3-1, 1 KO) to retire after five rounds of their featherweight contest.
