Liverpool's Callum Smith takes on Mathieu Bauderlique in just his second ever light-heavyweight fight this weekend in Saudi Arabia on the Joshua Usyk 2 undercard and says that he is a better fighter than when he was a world champion.
Smith, 32 is the former WBA (Super) and The Ring super-middleweight title holder, having lost both of these and his unbeaten career record to Canelo Alvarez in December 2020 and has moved up a weight division in order to challenge to become a two-time world champion. The winner in this fight will earn a world title shot against Artur Beterbiev.
He takes former Olympic Bronze medallist Bauderlique in the hope that he can earn a shot at the WBC and IBF light-heavyweight titles held by the unbeaten Russian Beterbiev. This fight holds the status as a world heavyweight title eliminator, with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger to Beterbiev's WBC belt.
