The planned August 19th match between unified light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Callum Smith has been postponed after Beterbiev incurred an injury during training. Beterbiev underwent surgery last week, making it impossible for him to recover in time for the scheduled bout on August 19th.

A new date for the match has not been set yet, but it is likely to occur in November by the earliest, depending on how quickly Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KO’s) recovers from his successful surgery. His opponent, the highly-rated Callum Smith (29-1, 21 KO’s), would have been competing in his 5th world title fight. As a former super middleweight world champion, Smith had a total of four title defenses before suffering a loss to Canelo Alvarez in his last fight.

Russian-Canadian Artur Beterbiev boasts an impressive record as the only world champion with a 100% knockout ratio. He initially won the IBF light-heavyweight title when it became vacant due to Andre Ward’s retirement. Ward, the division’s unified light-heavyweight champion, had retired, leading to the vacancy of his titles.

Since winning the IBF world title against Enrico Koelling in 2017, Beterbiev has maintained his remarkable knockout rate and has participated in 7 more title fights, successfully unifying the titles twice. Despite already proving himself as a champion, Artur Beterbiev is still eager to unify the titles once more against the reigning WBA light-heavyweight champion, Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KO’s).

Calls from the public for an undisputed match between the two fighters have been hindered by their similar backgrounds as Russian nationals. The WBC, whose belt Beterbiev holds, has blocked any attempts to unify the titles due to Bivol’s Russian nationality. Even Beterbiev’s decision to naturalize as a Canadian hasn’t resolved the issue, as the WBC seems determined to exploit the Russia-Ukraine conflict to prevent a resolution in determining the division’s best fighter.