Regardless of a looming fight with Dmitry Bivol potentially at stake, Artur Beterbiev and his team are not taking their latest title defense lightly.

Beterbiev, the IBF, WBC, and WBO 175-pound champion, is set to defend his titles against former 168-pound champion Callum Smith this Saturday at Centre Videotron in Quebec City.

A win over England’s Smith could finally set up a fight between Beterbiev, a Russian native who has lived and trained in Montreal for more than a decade, and Bivol, the WBA 175-pound titlist who is also Russian.

But as Marc Ramsay, Beterbeiv’s chief trainer, puts it, Smith is no pushover.

“He’s one of the best opponents we’ve faced up to now,” Ramsay said of the Liverpudlian to TVA Sports. “He’s a guy who is complete, a good boxer who has great quickness, who punches hard, who is durable, and who has proven it during a fight, in his decision loss to Canelo [Alvarez in 2020]. He gradually absorbed a lot of punches [in that fight].

“But this is the first time he will have to go up against the size of Artur Beterbiev and we’re going to see how he’s going to react. At the moment, all we’re focused on is what Artur will bring to the fight and not what the other side will do.”

Beterbiev is coming off a competitive eighth-round stoppage of Anthony Yarde last January in London. Beterbiev's fight with Smith was originally scheduled for the following August but it had to be postponed after he suffered complications from dental surgery.

There have been suggestions that a Beterbiev vs. Bivol fight could take place later this year, perhaps in the oil-rich country of Saudi Arabia. The matchup has been plagued by business politics, as Beterviev’s promoter, Top Rank, seldom does business with Bivol’s backers in Matchroom Boxing.

Ramsay admitted that they have long desired a fight with Bivol but have refused to get into a shouting match with the other side—at least until after they get past Smith.

“It’s something we’ve wanted for a long time,” Ramsay said. “But at the same time, the Bivol side talks too much. But Artur and I, from the start of training camp preparing for Callum Smith, we haven’t discussed [the Bivol fight] at all. We’re completely focused on our mark on Saturday night.”  

Sean Nam is the author of M.