Callum Smith blames his loss to unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev on being out of the ring for 17 months and having no sparring for 5 to 6 weeks in camp for their January 13 clash.
Beterbiev loss fallout
In that fight, everything went wrong for Smith (30-2, 22 KOs). He was blown out by Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) in seven rounds and made to look like an average fighter.
Callum bounced back from that loss and knocked out little-known Colombian journeyman Carlos Galvan (20-15-2, 19 KOs) in the fifth round on November 30 last year.
Next up for Smith (34) is WBO interim light heavyweight champion Joshua Buatsi on February 22 at the Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 undercard in Riyadh. If Callum can win this fight against the undefeated Buatsi (19-0, 13 KOs), he will be able to get an eventual title shot against the winner of the Beterbiev-Bivol 2 rematch.
Few boxing fans believe Smith will defeat tough 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Buatsi. Buatsi can hit, has a strong chin and is aggressive. In his last fight, he walked through pure hell, defeating Willy Hutchinson by a 12-round split decision on September 21st at Wembley Stadium in London.
Hutchinson, not known for being a bit of a puncher, hurt Buatsi several times in the fight just by staying in the fight and constantly letting shots land on him. However, there were times when it looked like Buatsi was on the verge of knocking him out. The shots Joshua Hutchinson took in that fight would probably have been too much for Callum, and he would have folded for sure.
No more excuses
“I hate fighters who make excuses, but I’ve had 17 months out of the ring, so you think, ‘I’ll get a lot of sparring’, but I haven’t. I hadn’t done any sparring five or six weeks before. I didn’t prepare that well,” Callum Smith told Sky Sports Boxing on why he lost to unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev on January 13 last year.
“So, the preparation was not ideal. I had been out of the ring for 17 months. I really couldn’t afford to put it off again and have it out of the ring for two years. That was the challenge. He had the belts, he was the champion. You live and you learn.
“I believed I would make it that night and I didn’t. I lost the battle and paid the price. I came away and assessed what went wrong. I believe I vIf that’s fixed, I’ve improved and because of that I’m a better fighter, Smith said.
It sure sounds like Callum is making excuses for his loss. Oh well, I guess he needs to say something to try to make sense of what happened to him in his blowout loss to Beterbiev. This is called ‘ego protection’.
“I didn’t do any sparring five or six weeks beforehand” 🗣️
Callum Smith opens up on his loss to Artur Beterbiev. pic.twitter.com/4j3CdyWOd7
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) January 14, 2025
