A light-heavyweight unification world title fight for three of the four world title belts heads to American shores as Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr clash for the WBC, WBO and IBF world titles this weekend from the famous Madison Square Gardens, New York.
After another hugely successful weekend of boxing tips, where we predicted the winner and outcome in both Riakporhe vs Turchi and Bryan vs Dubois, we are back this week with more tips ahead of a bumper weekend of boxing action!
On paper, this is a genuine 50/50 fight and is almost impossible to call. In one corner you have the undefeated Artur Beterbiev, who has won all 17 of his professional contest by knockout. In the opposite corner you have Joe Smith Jr, the current WBO world light-heavyweight champion who has a mean knockout streak of his own. Who will win 175-pound supremacy on Saturday night?
If you fancy a bet on this magnanimous unification fight in the light-heavyweight division, read on and check out our betting tips and predictions, as well as making use of the various free bets and betting offers on this page.
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Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr Prediction
One of the biggest fights of 2022 takes to our screens this weekend, as Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr clash for three world title belts in the light-heavyweight division.
This fight will get us one step closer to see who rules the roost at 175-pounds, with Dmitry Bivol holding the other world title belt after comprehensively beating pound-for-pound king Canelo Alvarez last month.
This fight is such an appealing one, with many different factors needing weighed up between the pair. Artur Beterbiev has won all 17 of his fights by concussive knockout, but is getting on a bit at the age of 37, which isn’t young in boxing terms.
On the other hand, Joe Smith Jr has slowly made is way back to the top of the light-heavyweight division, after losses to both Dmitry Bivol and Sullivan Barrera in 2019 and 2018 respectively.
Since then however, Smith Jr has worked his way back the hard way, beating Maxim Vlasov when he was the underdog to win the WBO world light-heavyweight title back in April 2021.
However, Artur Beterbiev is a completely different animal to the likes of Vlasov, Steve Geffrard, Eleider Alvarez and Jesse Hart, who are Smith Jr’s last four wins, with all due respect.
Beterbiev has ironed out the likes of Marcus Browne, Oleksandr Gvozdyk and Callum Johnson in recent years, who on paper are tougher tests than Smith Jr has faced.
That is why here at SportsLens, we think that The Russian king will add yet another stoppage victory to his resumé. When we think that knockout will come we will explain further, but as a safe bet we think Beterbiev to win by KO/TKO is highly likely.
Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr prediction: Beterbiev to win by KO/TKO @ 1/2 with BetOnline
Odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.
Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr Betting Tips
As we have alluded to previously, an Artur Beterbiev stoppage victory looks like the most likely outcome in this light-heavyweight unification clash.
In recent times, quite a lot of Beterbiev’s knockouts have come later on, with his last three stoppages coming in rounds ten, ten and nine respectively. That might make you think we are going to tip a stoppage victory for the 37-year-old in the last four rounds of the fight, but that isn’t the case.
Here at SportsLens we actually think the knockout blow could come pretty early on for the Russian, hence why we have picked Beterbiev KO/TKO in rounds 1-4 as our second betting tip for this huge 175-pound unification dust-up.
The reason for this is that we don’t think Smith Jr operates at as high a level as say Oleksandr Gvozdyk, who Beterbiev took ten rounds to halt, or even Marcus Browne who took Beterbiev nine rounds before he ultimately fell to the ridiculous power that Beterbiev possesses in his fists.
Joe Smith Jr has been stopped once in his career, but it was back in 2010 in what was a flash knockout against an average opponent, who just happened to catch Smith Jr flush. Since then, the American has only lost twice, as previously mentioned to both Bivol and Barrera, both via unanimous decision.
However, neither Bivol nor Barrera possess the extreme power that Beterbiev does, which is why we think the 32-year-old could come unstuck in the middle rounds. It could be cagey for the opening few rounds of the fight, but ultimately we see Beterbiev landing some big shots and getting Smith Jr out of there in superb fashion.
Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr betting tip: Beterbiev to win by KO/TKO in rounds 1-4 @ 11/5 with BetOnline
Odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.
Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr Best Bet
Our final tip and our best bet for the Beterbiev vs Smith Jr fight, at the highest odds and a great price, is that Artur Beterbiev will win via KO/TKO in rounds three or four.
As we have previously mentioned, Beterbiev has quite a lot of late stoppages in recent fight, perhaps as he is aging and isn’t taking as many risks as he once did when he was first knocking people out on the world scene.
Although we think the best value for the Beterbiev knockout that we are predicting is the rounds 1-4 bet, if we are going to dig a little deeper and try and be as accurate as we can predicting a two round stoppage victory, it is rounds 3-4.
Although Beterbiev has won his last three fights via stoppage in the last third of the fight, he has previously finished several opponents in the early rounds. It took him five rounds to halt Radivoje Kalajdzic and seven to stop Alexander Johnson. He has stopped eight opponents within the first four rounds.
We think Joe Smith Jr is better than these two opponents, hence why we have opted for a slightly later stoppage than it being super early. Another thing to note is that Smith Jr fully believes he can win this fight, which means he may get over-eager and take risks that he usually wouldn’t take.
Beterbiev is the obvious favourite and is likely to win, and for us it is extremely likely that Smith Jr gets caught coming in when trying to land his own clubbing shots on his Russian opponent.
Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr best bet: Beterbiev to win by KO/TKO in rounds 3-4 @ 4/1 with BetOnline
Odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.
Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr Odds
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Odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.
When Is Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr?
Date: Saturday, 18th June (Sunday morning GMT)
Ring Walks expected: 23.00pm EST (04.00am GMT), Madison Square Gardens, New York, USA
Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr Channel and Live Stream
TV channel (USA): If you have ESPN+ on your TV, you will be able to watch this world title action in the light-heavyweight division from MSG live on ESPN+, provided you have paid for the pay-per-view.
TV channel (UK): If you have Sky Sports on your TV, you will be able to watch this world title unification clash in the 175-pound division from New York live on Sky Sports, provided you are a subscriber to their channel.
Live stream (USA): ESPN subscribers can also catch the action online and via the ESPN app, provided you have paid the pay-per-view fee for this lightweight undisputed fight.
Live stream (UK): Sky Sports subscribers can also catch the action online and via the Sky Go app for free, provided you are a Sky Sports subscriber.
Tale Of The Tape
Artur Beterbiev record and bio:
- Nationality: Russian
- Date of Birth: 21st January 1985 (37-years-old)
- Height: 5′ 11 1/2″
- Reach: 73″
- Total Fights: 17
- Record: 17-0 (17 KOs)
Joe Smith Jr record and bio:
- Nationality: American
- Date of Birth: 20th September 1989 (32-years-old)
- Height: 6′ 0″
- Reach: 76″
- Total Fights: 31
- Record: 28-3 (22 KOs)
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