Callum Smith’s older brother, Liam Smith, still doubts about IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev’s atypical test results from last December.
Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) defeated Callum (29-2, 21 KOs) by a seventh-round TKO last Saturday night at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Canada.
Leaked Tests and Public Perception
Liam feels that the information about Beterbiev’s atypical test result being leaked on the week of the fight rather than last December, it allowed them to say Smith is ‘”making accusations,” and Beterbiev is upset.
Liam thinks that would have been different if the information was revealed last December, because people would have said Beterbiev is a “Cheat.”
“On December 6th, when it came out, if we posted the VADA letter we got, I’m pretty sure everyone would have went, ‘Cheat, he’s on something,’ but because we kept it quiet and it got leaked fight week and they played it quite clever, saying, ‘Smith’s making accusations up. Beterbiev is angry,'” said Liam Smith to Boxing Social, talking about Artur Beterbiev’s atypical test results from last December.
Beterbiev’s other tests showed no additional atypical results and none of them were positive. If Liam is bringing up this information as an excuse for why Callum lost the fight, it’s not going to help.
Fans don’t see that as an explanation of what went wrong for Smith. He just wasn’t good enough, and with the way he fought, he’d lost too many other fighters in the 175-lb division.
If Smith doesn’t retire, he’ll find out the hard way that he’s not as good in this weight class as he was at 168, and even in that division, he got found out by Canelo Alvarez, and some feel he lost to John Ryder as well.
Testosterone Levels and Age
“You had two. Not one, two tests where you got this atypical, not adverse finding,” said Liam. “Crazy. In my opinion, if it shows in your system, there’s something there, and at 39 years of age, if your testosterone is up, there’s only one thing.
“You lose testosterone the older you get. You lose it. It doesn’t go higher. It should speak for itself. Regardless of anything, the fight went ahead, and Callum. It’s nothing, really. We can’t do nothing about it.
“I’m proud of Callum. 17 months out of the ring didn’t help him. That’s not saying he would have won if he’d been active. I’m just saying that didn’t help Callum’s performance, but he put up a great fight and he’s a great champion. I’m saying if your a bit more active, you surely would have been a bit more better,” said Smith.
If Callum is the real deal, he’ll come back from this loss, and defeat the top guys in the division, apart from Beterbiev, and do well for the next four or five years. Smith should target these fighters to find out whether he’s got the ability to become a champion:
- Joshua Buatsi
- Dmitry Bivol
- Craig Richards
- Anthony Yarde
