Light heavyweight champ Artur Beterbiev put Callum Smith down twice and stopped him at 2:00 of the seventh round of a scheduled 12-rounder, the winner’s 20th knockout in as many fights.
Beterbiev outboxed and outworked Smith (29-2, 21 KOs) from the first round, methodically stalking the challenger and gradually breaking him down.
However, the end cam suddenly. Beterbiev landed a right hand to the temple of Smith about a minute into Round 7, buckling the knees of the Englishman. Beterbiev followed with a vicious barrage that ultimately put Smith down for the first time in his career.
Smith was able to get up but took another series of hard shots that put him on the canvas again. At the point, his trainer, Buddy McGirt, jumped into the ring to save his fighter from taking more punishment.
The victory could set up a title-unification showdown with Dmitry Bivol, the conqueror of Canelo Alvarez.
A full report will follow shortly.
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Super middleweight contender Christian Mbilli stopped durable, but overmatched Rohan Murdock after the sixth round of a scheduled 10-rounder.
Mbilli (26-0, 22 KOs), a relentless slugger from France, landed vicious punches to both the head and body at will from beginning to end.
Murdock (27-3, 19 KOs) showed inhuman resilience to survive six rounds and remain on his feet — and landed good shots here and there — but he had no genuine answers for Mbilli’s overwhelming attack and broke down as the one-sided fight progressed.
Mbilli hurt Murdock badly toward the end of the Round 5, when it appeared the fight might be stopped. The continued pounded finally convinced Murdock’s trainer to stop the fight after Round 6.
Mbilli is ranked No. 1 by two of the major sanctioning bodies, making him a prime candidate to face undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez.
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Jason Moloney defeated to Saul Sanchez by a majority decision in the first defense of his WBO 118-pound title on the Artur Beterbiev-Calleum Smith card Saturday in Quebec City, Canada.
The official scores were 116-112, 116-112 and 114-114.
Moloney (27-2, 19 KOs) won the vacant belt in his previous fight, a majority decision over Victor Astrolabio in May. The Aussie now has won six consecutive times since he was stopped by Naoya Inoue in 2020.
Sanchez (20-3, 12 KOs) was fighting for a major title for the first time.
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Unbeaten Artur Beterbiev is scheduled to defend his 175-pound titles against Callum Smith on Saturday night in Quebec City, Canada (ESPN, ESPN+).
The featured portion of the show is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. (main event later in the show).
Also on the card: Jason Moloney vs. Saul Sanchez, bantamweights (for Moloney’s WBO title); Christian Mbilli vs. Rohan Murdock, super middleweights; Imam Khataev vs. Rodolfo Gomez Jr., light heavyweights
Boxing Junkie will post results, as well as a brief summary, immediately after the featured fights end. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full coverage – detailed fight stories, analysis and more – will follow on separate posts the night of the card and the following day.
Enjoy the fights!
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