Now it’s on to the fight.
Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr. on Friday made weight for their light heavyweight title unification fight on Saturday at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York (ESPN).
Beterbiev weighed 175.0, the division limit. Smith came in at 174.6.
Beterbiev has knocked out all 17 of his opponents, including a ninth-round stoppage against Marcus Browne this past Dec. 17 in the Russian’s adopted hometown of Montreal.
He holds the IBF and WBC belts.
Smith (28-3, 22 KOs) is coming off a ninth-round stoppage of Steve Geffrard on Jan. 15 in Verona, New York, the WBO titleholder’s home state.
In the co-feature, Abraham Nova (21-0, 15 KOs) will take on Robeisy Ramirez (9-1, 5 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round 126-pound bout. Nova and Robeisy weighed 125.4 and 125.8, respectively.
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