Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith Prediction and Picks January 13

Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith Betting Preview

Artur Beterbiev and Callum Smith go head-to-head at Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada to box in a IBF, WBC and WBO world light heavyweight title bout on Saturday, January 13 as WagerTalk boxing handicapper Kevin Dolan gives his Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith prediction and picks with the main card set to start around 10:00pm ET.

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Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith Betting Odds

Saturday, January 13	Boxing Betting Notes (Courtesy of Caesars)
Moneyline:	Artur Beterbiev -450 vs Callum Smith +320
Rounds:	9.5 (Over -105 / Under -130)
Fight Time:	Main Card 10:00pm ET / 7:00pm PT
Arena:	Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada
TV:	ESPN+

Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith Betting Analysis

The light-heavyweight king Artur Beterbiev returns to his adopted home of Canada on Saturday night taking on dangerous English challenger Callum Smith in what should be an all-action affair in Quebec City this weekend.

Artur Beterbiev holds three of the four belts at light-heavyweight after starching Joe Smith Jr. inside of two rounds in New York City 18 months ago, then following that up with a stoppage victory over Anthony Yarde in London early last year also, a result that brought his frightening professional record to 19-0 with 19 knockouts.

However, Callum Smith, the former super-middleweight king, should be no easy task for Beterbiev here this weekend as Smith, who’s only lost to Canelo over his career so far, owns both a size and reach advantage over Beterbiev, as well as having a similar level of power also, with neither of Smith’s last two opponents making it as far as the 5th round.

Artur Beterbiev comes into this one as the consensus -450 favorite with Callum Smith coming back at a +320.

Father Time Creeping Up On What Has Been A Hall-Of-Fame Career

Despite his unbelievable legacy of letting no man see the final bell against him across his undefeated career so far, as well as owning a 20-2 record to close out his amateur career also, with both of those losses coming against current unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, it’s fair to say that Artur Beterbiev will have his name immortalized whenever he does decide to finally hang up his gloves.

Turning 39 years of age just next week however, that retirement could be closer than we anticipate, with the Russian-Canadian fighter having just one fight in the last 18 months due to injury showing that Father Time waits for no one, not even one of the most formidable fighters of his generation.

Callum Smith Promises To Test Beterbiev’s Chin

Looking like a natural at his new weight of 175lb, Liverpudlian Callum Smith has arguably never looked stronger as he absolutely tore through both Lenin Castillo and Mathieu Bauderlique over his last two fights with some truly electric one-punch KOs.

The reason that Callum Smith might present a real test to Beterbiev in this one is that both of those KOs came with either of Smith’s hands, showing that he possesses immense power on both sides.

However, that left hook of Smith’s is especially powerful, effectively being his money punch, and should he land that clean on Saturday night, it’s doubtful whether even a granite-chinned fighter like Artur Beterbiev will be able to stand up to it.

Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith Expert Prediction

Artur Beterbiev is the unified light-heavyweight champion of the world, and on top of that is fighting in front of his adoring adopted home crowd support for the first time in over two years, so it’s very difficult to see Callum Smith getting any kind of decision in this one.

That’s magnified even further by the fact that there’s a massive gulf technically between these two fighters also, as despite all of his ferocious power in the ring, Beterbiev is an incredibly gifted boxer as well, able to deceptively feint and probe his way into range before opening up his full arsenal on the inside.

The only real chance Callum Smith has of winning this fight is to somehow catch Beterbiev coming into range with that hellacious left hook of his, a punch that could change the trajectory of the fight at any time, especially as Beterbiev has been hurt in fights before, most notably against fellow Englishman Callum Johnson back in 2018.

Beterbiev is getting on in years, there’s simply no getting around that fact, and we did notice a slight dip in his last fight against Anthony Yarde for example, where he seemed to slow down entering the mid portion of the fight with Yarde catching him flush with some big shots up top before Beterbiev was then able to rally and get his second wind before closing the show.

That’s likely Callum Smith’s only real shot in this one, to survive the initial rounds against Beterbiev before looking for that mid-fight slump and trying to capitalize with that left hook of his, something that at +2300 does present some marginal value.

However, that play should be offset here by Beterbiev getting yet another stoppage on his record come Saturday night. Canelo gave Callum Smith a detached bicep in the opening couple of rounds in their fight back in 2020, effectively making him redundant from that point on, and Beterbiev is more than capable of doing the same type of damage to Smith in this one also.

Callum Smith has a shot of catching Beterbiev with something big in the middle rounds in my opinion, but that will likely be due to Beterbiev’s advanced age, as the current unified light-heavyweight king basically owns every other advantage in the ring on Saturday night.

Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith Prediction: Artur Beterbiev by KO/TKO (-215) OR Callum Smith Rounds 5-8 (+2300)

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