WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith Jr 28-3 (22) knocked out Steve Geffrard 18-3 (12) in nine rounds at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York on Saturday night and immediately called out WBC and IBF champion Artur Beterbiev 17-0 (17).
The 36-year-old undefeated Russian power puncher is coming off a ninth-round knockout victory over southpaw Marcus Browne 24-2 (16) in Montreal, Canada in December.
And much like every boxer from middleweight up to cruiserweight, Smith is keen to face pound-for-pound king and Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 57-1-2 (39), who is the unsiputed champion at 168-pounds.
If Smith gets his way he will face Beterbiev next, followed by WBA champion Dimitry Bivol 19-0 (11) who defeated him on points two years ago, before locking horns with Alvarez.
“[Beterbiev] is what I want,” Smith said. “I want to get back in the gym, work on my craft, and like I say each and every time I get in the ring, I’m going to get better and better. I believe the next time you see me, I’ll be ready for anybody.
“If I get Beterbiev and beat him, I want Bivol next to unify all the belts and become unified champ – and then take out the pound-for-pound king.
“If Canelo wants to come to 175 and fight me, I’m ready for him. That’s the fight I want. Everybody would love to see that fight. It would be a big deal.”
Promoter Joe DeGuardia added: “Joe wants the biggest and the best. That’s what he’s looking for. He’ll fight anybody. Beterbiev is out there. Canelo is out there. He’s ready for all of them. We’re ready for the biggest ones.”
Smith delivered a solid performance against Geffrard on the weekend, systematically breaking down the late replacement with his right hands and left hooks.
Geffrard boxed behind a high guard for much of the fight but Smith was able to find his way around his gloves by the third round and had the 31-year-old from Miami, Florida hurt in the fifth.
From there it was all one way traffic for Smith, who continued to tee off for the following three and a bit rounds against the defensive-minded Geffrard until the corner decided they had seen enough at 0:37 on the ninth.
“He really brought it today,” Smith said. “It was a great fight. As you can see, he’s a great boxer, a good survivor.
“I was trying to get him out of there early, but I realised he was very tough and I wasn’t going to be able to do that. I tried to wait until the later rounds and started throwing more combinations to pick him apart.”
Smith, 32, from Long Island in New York, was making the first defence of the WBO strap he won against Maxim Vlasov 46-4 (26) in Tulsa, Oklahoma last April.
