The winner will not only take the WBC and IBF titles held by Beterbiev and the WBO championship owned by Smith but will place himself into what suddenly looks to be a lucrative fight later this year or early next year against WBA king Dmitry Bivol.
Bivol's upset over Canelo Alvarez has raised public interest in him and a fight involving Bivol against the victor of this fight will certainly have far more interest than it would have previous to Bivol's win over Alvarez.
Saturday's fight should be the closest thing that fight fans could receive to a guaranteed action matchup between the two biggest punchers in the division with Beterbiev (all seventeen of his outings have ended with a Beterbiev knockout) and Smith (twenty-two of his twenty-eight wins by stoppage) each possessing the type of pop that may end a bout with one shot.
Beterbiev has ground down accomplished fighters such as former WBC champion Oleksandr Gvoszdyk (who retired after losing to Beterbiev) and former Olympian Marcus Browne (who cut Beterbiev badly in his last fight but when Beterbiev was told that he may have only one round before the fight was stopped, the Russian brutally finished Browne in that round), while Smith has not only knocked out fighters like Bernard Hopkins (who retired after losing to Smith) and former WBO champion Eleider Alvarez, both fights ended with spectacular KO's that left both men outside the ring.
Neither fighter is an especially quick starter, although Smith did knock out the number one contender in the division at the time in Andrzej Fonfara in one round, and both have shown flaws on occasion.
Beterbiev has been knocked down early, most notably in the second round of a title defense against Briton Callum Johnson before knocking Johnson out in round four of a fight filled with power punches landed by both men.
Smith hasn't been dropped by anyone but in his losses to Sullivan Barrera and Bivol, he was hurt by both fighters, neither of which is a huge puncher so it's not out of the question that Smith wouldn't stand up to the bombs of Beterbiev.
This could be a fight for the ages that disappoints only if both fighters respect the other's punching ability so much that both men fight tentatively and take few chances.
The co-feature is a very interesting featherweight ten-rounder that reminds you of the type of fights that were made in the eighties on network television with two fighters moving to the next level with strong records and the winner stepping forward with a big victory.
Undefeated Abraham "Super" Nova is coming off his most impressive win in an eighth-round knockout of William Encarnacion in January and with a unique look combined with a mascot that resembles Nova brings a memorable prospect with all the glitz to a benchmark bout against Robiesy Ramirez, the two-time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba, who has bounced back from a stunning defeat in his debut as a professional to win nine in a row with his last two wins coming over opponents with a combined record of 31-1.
Ramirez is the flashier boxer with Nova as the more aggressive fighter and bigger puncher with fifteen knockouts in his twenty-one wins and I see this as a very even fight to choose a winner.
I can see Nova pressuring Ramirez and suffocating him on his way to an easy decision win but I can just easily project Ramirez's boxing skills keeping Nova at bay and winning easily as well.
Ramirez's vast international amateur experience could make the difference but I have a hunch that Ramirez may not have the best chin, even though I've seen no real reason to think that way.
This is a true 50/50 affair and I'm looking forward to seeing it Saturday night.
Boxing Challenge
Unification WBC/IBF-WBO Light Heavyweight Titles.12 Rds
Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith
Ramon Malpica and Vince Samano: Beterbiev KO 7
TRS: Beterbiev KO 10
Featherweights. 10 Rds
Robiesy Ramirez vs Abraham Nova
All: Ramirez Unanimous Decision
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