Callum Smith will probably be out of action for a couple of months.

The Liverpool light-heavyweight (29-1, 21 KOs) was set to return to the ring later this week in his home city.

Smith, who is the mandatory challenger to Artur Beterbiev’s WBC title, had been slated to face Poland’s Pawel Stepien (18-0-1, 12 KOs) over 12 rounds at the M&S Bank Arena on Saturday (March 11), exclusively live on DAZN.

But ‘Mundo’ pulled out of his Merseyside homecoming last week, citing an unspecified injury.

And Eddie Hearn, the head honcho of Matchroom with whom Smith has an exclusive promotional pact, believes the former WBA Super world champion at super-middleweight will be ripe and ready to return sooner rather than later.

“It’s disappointing that Callum has had to withdraw,” Hearn told Matchroom’s YouTube channel. “We got the news the day before everybody else and he had to see the relevant specialists and he unfortunately had to withdraw from the fight.”

The aforementioned Canadian-based Russian Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs) was in action back in January when England’s Anthony Yarde was pulled out inside eight rounds against him at the OVO Arena in Wembley, London.

Beterbiev also has the IBF and WBO crowns in the division, with 32-year-old Smith next in line for the green and gold WBC crown on the back of a scintillating fourth-round knockout defeat of Mathieu Bauderlique at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia last August.

“The injury is not too bad,” Hearn added, “but it’s going to keep him out for, probably, six to eight weeks.

“It’s disappointing because, like for any fighter, he’s done eight to 10 weeks of training out in America [with coach Buddy McGirt] and then been back in Liverpool, but the focus is now just on Artur Beterbiev.

“We’ve written to the WBC to inform them [of the situation], he’s the mandatory to Artur Beterbiev and we expect that fight to be called now and for negotiations to begin almost imminently.”