A dejected Callum Smith wasn’t trying to diminish Artur Beterbiev’s impressive victory.
Smith fully credited the Russian knockout artist for his complete performance Saturday night, which led to the first knockout defeat of Smith’s 11-year, 31-fight professional career at Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada. Up until the point when Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) knocked Smith to the canvas twice during the seventh round, however, the former WBA super middleweight champion didn’t believe Beterbiev’s vaunted power was something he couldn’t handle.
“He’s a bit like me brother, Liam,” Smith told Sky Sports in his locker room. “He’s just always constantly touching, touching, but obviously his touching’s a little bit harder. His power – look, he stopped me – but up until the shot, the knockdown, I didn’t feel any power. He’s more just constantly touching you to stop you getting any sort of rhythm and stuff.
“But look, no excuses. The better man won tonight. My performance wasn’t the best, but he’s a good champion. He turns up. He’s done what he’s meant to do.”
An aggressive Beterbiev bruised and battered Smith’s face through six rounds, but Smith stayed on his feet and remained reasonably competitive. Judges Mark Lyson (58-56) and Gerardo Martinez (58-56) both scored two of the first six rounds for Smith, who won only one of those rounds according to judge Benoit Roussel (59-55).
A destructive right hand by Beterbiev made Smith stumble a little less than a minute into the seventh round, though, which marked the beginning of the end of their 12-round fight for Beterbiev’s IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight titles. A series of subsequent punches by Beterbiev sent Smith to the canvas for the first time in his career with 1:52 on the clock in the seventh round.
Smith made it to his feet by the time referee Mike Griffin counted to eight. Beterbiev battered Smith some more once the action continued, which led to a second knockdown with 1:26 to go in the seventh round.
Buddy McGirt, Smith’s trainer, started to step into the ring as soon as Smith (29-2, 21 KOs) went down for the second time and instructed Griffin to stop their bout. It ended exactly two minutes into the seventh round.
“I don’t think he’s the hardest to hit,” Smith said of Beterbiev. “Boxing ability-wise, he’s pretty readable. Whether he felt any [of my power], I’m not too sure. But he’s just good at, as I say, touching, touching, touching, touching you and stopping you getting any sort of momentum. But no, he’s a good fighter. He’s a three-belt world champion for a reason and, as I say, I come up short tonight and it’s a hard one to take.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.