Beterbiev stops Smith to keep belts, stay perfect

QUEBEC CITY, Quebec — Artur Beterbiev retained his WBC, WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles with a seventh-round TKO victory over Callum Smith on Saturday night.

Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) buckled Smith with a chopping right hand before an avalanche of punches dropped the challenger. Moments later, Smith was on the canvas again following another flurry of power shots.

Smith (29-2, 21 KOs) survived the second knockdown, too, but he was in no shape to continue when trainer Buddy McGirt jumped on the ring apron to halt the bout.

With the victory — Beterbiev’s seventh 175-pound championship defense — he remains boxing’s only champion with a 100% knockout ratio.

Beterbiev was ahead 58-56, 58-56 and 59-55 when the fight was stopped with one minute left in Round 7.

“We had a couple strategies; we always have more than one,” said Beterbiev, who is ESPN’s No. 7-ranked pound-for-pound boxer and No. 2 light heavyweight. “… He gave me a good fight. He stayed strong. Thanks to him. Today, luck is on my side.”

Beterbiev, who fights out of Montreal, swarmed Smith right off his stool and backed him into a corner with a flurry of shots, a harbinger of what was in store for the Englishman.

The 38-year-old busted up Smith with his excellent jab, causing his nose to bleed early. Beterbiev’s smartly applied pressure never let Smith breathe for even a moment.

Beterbiev was suffocating as he changed levels with his jab and followed up with compact shots that mostly met their mark. Smith, 33, attempted to punch in between Beterbiev’s attack, but his power connects never had any effect.

Beterbiev, meanwhile, began to break down Smith just like he had all 19 previous opponents.

With the victory, Beterbiev remains on a collision course for a highly anticipated showdown with fellow Russian Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed light heavyweight championship.

Bivol, who holds the WBA title at 175 pounds, said last month that he has already agreed to his side of a deal for a meeting with Beterbiev in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) owns a win over Canelo Alvarez and is ESPN’s No. 1 light heavyweight and No. 4 pound-for-pound boxer.

“Yes, of course [I want the Bivol fight],” Beterbiev said. “I need another belt. It would mean a lot to me.”

Added Beterbiev’s promoter, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum: “It’s not done yet, but absolutely we want to do it. I’ll be talking to my friend His Excellency Turki Alalshikh. I know he wants to do it, but Ramadan is coming. So, about three months after the end of Ramadan we’ll be ready to fight Dmitry Bivol, probably in Riyadh.”

Beterbiev is a devout Muslim. Ramadan begins March 10 and ends April 8.

Saturday’s matchup was Beterbiev’s first bout since last January, when he scored another seventh-round TKO win, this time over England’s Anthony Yarde. Beterbiev-Smith was set for this past August, but the champion withdrew with a jaw infection.

Smith, in his lone previous bout on the elite level, was dominated by Alvarez over 12 rounds in a super middleweight title defense. He moved up to 175 pounds afterward — where he’s rated No. 3 by ESPN — but competed just six rounds since that December 2022 loss to Canelo.

Mbilli breaks down Murdock

Christian Mbilli remained undefeated with a pulverizing sixth-round stoppage win over Rohan Murdock in the ESPN chief-support bout.

Mbilli (26-0, 22 KOs) landed a tremendous amount of flush power shots throughout the fight. A Cameroon native who fights out of Montreal, Mbilli lifted the crowd to its feet with his thrilling power display.

The 28-year-old, who is ESPN’s No. 7-ranked super middleweight, handed out a two-fisted beating before the fight was finally stopped following Round 6.

Australia’s Murdock (27-3, 19 KOs) showed tremendous mettle in absorbing the punishment.

Moloney ekes by Sanchez in slugfest

Jason Moloney retained his WBO bantamweight title with a majority-decision victory over Saul Sanchez in a thriller: 114-114, 116-112 and 116-112.

Australia’s Moloney (27-2, 19 KOs) swept the championship rounds on two scorecards to pull out the win in the first defense of his 118-pound belt. Round after round, he and Sanchez traded heavy blows in a firefight that prompted a standing ovation at the final bell.

Moloney, 33, is ESPN’s No. 2-ranked bantamweight. He has won six consecutive fights since a seventh-round KO loss to Naoya Inoue in an October 2020 title bout.

Sanchez (20-3, 12 KOs), a 26-year-old from Southern California, was challenging for his first world title.