Now it’s on to the battle.
Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr. on Friday made weight for his or her mild heavyweight title unification battle on Saturday at Hulu Theater at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York (ESPN).
Beterbiev weighed 175.0, the division restrict. Smith got here in at 174.6.
Beterbiev has knocked out all 17 of his opponents, together with a ninth-round stoppage towards Marcus Browne this previous Dec. 17 within the Russian’s adopted hometown of Montreal.
He holds the IBF and WBC belts.
Smith (28-3, 22 KOs) is coming off a ninth-round stoppage of Steve Geffrard on Jan. 15 in Verona, New York, the WBO titleholder’s residence state.
Within the co-feature, Abraham Nova (21-0, 15 KOs) will tackle Robeisy Ramirez (9-1, 5 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round 126-pound bout. Nova and Robeisy weighed 125.4 and 125.8, respectively.
