Joe Smith Jr.: record, next fight and profile →
Dmitry Bivol and World of Boxing have signed a promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing USA and the Russian will defend his WBA World Light-Heavyweight title against Joe Smith Jr live on DAZN in the US and on Sky Sports in the UK in March.
Dmitry Bivol’s DAZN debut has been scheduled for March 9. Multiple sources have informed BoxingScene.com that Bivol will defend his WBA light heavyweight title that night against Joe Smith Jr. Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, is among the sites under consideration for that card, but the venue hadn’t been finalized as of Tuesday afternoon.
Having spent the past three months waiting on a fight that will clearly never materialize is long enough for Joe Smith Jr. and his team to finally move on from Artur Beterbiev. Two separate efforts to pair the light heavyweights have ultimately fallen by the wayside, the latest collapse killing preliminary plans for a targeted late February showdown. Smith’s team held out hope, as the intended location was Nassau Coliseum, less than an hour from Smith’s home in eastern Long Island, New York.
Long Island light heavyweight Joe Smith owns definitive first- and eighth-round stoppages of title challenger Andrzej Fonfara and two-division champion Bernard Hopkins from June and December 2016. The 6-foot Smith (24-2, 20 KOs) is coming off June’s 95-second stoppage of Melvin Russell to rebound after flooring then-once beaten title challenger Sullivan Barrera in the first round of a 10-round unanimous decision loss in July 2017.
IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and his team have pushed a scheduled second defense against Joe Smith from December 15 to sometime in February citing too swift a turnaround – a span of 69 days -- from last month’s fourth-round stoppage victory over previously unbeaten Callum Johnson in Chicago.
Artur Beterbiev (13-0, 13 KOs), the IBF lightweight heavyweight champion, admits that he will have very little time to rest. Beterbiev will make the second defense of his world title against Joe Smith on December 15th, as part of the undercard to Canelo Alvarez vs. Rocky Fielding at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (13-0, 13 KOs) has interest in several potential fights on the horizon. But one fight in particular, which at the moment is not even close to being in the mix, is a potential clash with WBC, WBO, IBF, WBA cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (15-0, 11 KOs).
For the past month or so there was rampant speculation that Joe Smith would be challenging WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol on HBO in late November. As Previously reported on BoxingScene.com, it looks like Smith will still be fighting for a 175-pound belt but it will be against IBF titlist Artur Beterbiev.
According to Yvon Michel, promoter for IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, the next fight for his boxer would take place on a date in December. And the opponent is almost certain to be Joe Smith Jr. Smith, who is best known for his career-ending knockout of Bernard Hopkins, is still being mentioned as the next opponent for WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol - but that fight has been staggering on shelf since HBO announced their intention to walk away from boxing by the end of the year.
Returning to the ring after an 11-month layoff due to a broken jaw, Joe "The Beast" Smith, Jr. provided early fireworks last night (Saturday, June 30) in the latest installment in the popular "Slugfest at The Sun" series, presented by Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing, at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.