Callum Smith assumes the judges’ scorecards won’t determine the outcome of his light heavyweight championship showdown with Artur Beterbiev on Saturday night.

The Russian-born, Quebec-based Beterbiev has knocked out every opponent he has faced in 10½ years as a professional prizefighter (19-0, 19 KOs). England’s Smith (29-1, 21 KOs) considers himself a hard puncher, too, certainly heavy-handed enough to knock out the favored IBF/WBC/WBO 175-pound champion in a main event ESPN will televise from Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada.

In the event, however unlikely it might be, that their 12-round fight goes the distance, a geographically neutral panel of judges has been assigned to score their title fight. BoxingScene.com has learned that England’s Mark Lyson, Puerto Rico’s Gerardo Martinez and Quebec’s Benoit Roussel are the three judges who will sit ringside to score Beterbiev-Smith.

Lyson was chosen by the WBC, Martinez by the IBF and Roussel by the WBO. Quebec’s Mike Griffin was picked as the referee for this bout by Direction des Sports de Combat, which regulates boxing and mixed martial arts in Quebec.

Griffin has officiated four of Beterbiev’s professional fights, most recently his ninth-round knockout of American Marcus Browne (25-2, 16 KOs) in December 2021 at Bell Centre in Montreal. None of Smith’s 30 pro bouts have been overseen by Griffin.

Lyson is from Smith’s hometown of Liverpool, but this will be the first Smith fight he will judge.

Though this fight will take place in the province Beterbiev has called home for more than 10 years, and at a venue where Beterbiev has fought three times, Smith isn’t concerned about scoring if he becomes the first of 20 pro opponents to take Beterbiev the distance.

“As a fighter, you just believe that if you do enough to win you’ll get the decision,” Smith told BoxingScene.com. “I’ve never gone in thinking I won’t get it on the scorecards. I believe if I do enough to win I’ll get a fair shake from the judges. I’ve just gotta do my job, which is win as many rounds as I can. As long as I’m winning rounds and doing my job, the rest of it is out of my hands.”

Smith has not been knocked out in 11 years as a pro. The former WBA super middleweight champion’s only loss came by unanimous decision to Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs), who beat Smith by wide margins on all three cards (119-109, 119-109, 117-111) in December 2020 at Alamodome in San Antonio.

The bout between Beterbiev, 38, and Smith, 33, will headline a doubleheader on ESPN. The two-bout broadcast will begin at 10 p.m. ET, when Cameroon’s Christian Mbilli (25-0, 21 KOs), a super middleweight contender who resides and trains in Montreal, squares off against Australia’s Rohan Murdock (27-2, 19 KOs).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.