Callum Smith wants super middleweight title unification fights.

If the unbeaten Brit can’t secure such challenges against Billy Joe Saunders, David Benavidez or Caleb Plant, Daniel Jacobs is the challenger that interests Smith most. Smith, the WBA 168-pound champion, assessed potentially opposing Jacobs as part of a recent Instagram Live interview with Eddie Hearn, whose company promotes Smith and Jacobs.

“That’s a good fight,” Smith said. “That’s a very good fight. But watching it, it sounds like he wants one more at the weight before [fighting me].”

Smith alluded to Jacobs’ own Instagram Live interview with Hearn. Brooklyn’s Jacobs suggested to Hearn that he’d be ready to meet Smith after one more fight within the super middleweight division.

Jacobs, a former IBF and WBA middleweight champion, stopped Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in what was supposed to be Jacobs’ debut at the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds. Mexico’s Chavez (51-4-1, 33 KOs, 1 NC) weighed in at 172¾ pounds for that bout, but Jacobs still stopped him after five rounds December 20 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix.

Whenever the time is right for their fight, Jacobs is open to facing Liverpool’s Smith in England.

“It’s a massive fight,” Smith said. “You know, I’ve got a lot of respect for Danny. He’s a big name. He’s a good fighter inside the ring. Outside the ring, you know, he seems like a gentleman. He’s a good fighter, a former two-time world champion. I believe I’m the best in the world at 168 and I beat anyone in the division. He’s got a big profile in the States and in the UK. So, it’s definitely a fight where if we can’t get a fight with another champion, a unification fight, it’s probably the fight that makes sense more than any other one.”

The 33-year-old Jacobs believes he’d be the biggest test of Smith’s career.

“I love that fight,” Jacobs told Hearn. “I think [Smith] hasn’t truly been tested yet, especially against a top-notch, world-level fighter. I’m not sure if it’s been hard for him to get fights at that level. But his last fight with Ryder, if I’m not mistaken, was a very close, tricky fight.”

The 29-year-old Smith (27-0, 19 KOs) defeated London’s Ryder (28-5, 16 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 12-round title defense November 23 in Liverpool. Their fight was very competitive, but Smith won nine rounds on the scorecard of judge Terry O’Connor (117-111) and eight rounds apiece according to judges Francisco Rosa (116-112) and Jose Torres (116-112). 

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