Carl Froch says Callum Smith’s attempts at bravery were futile against the “monster’ Artur Beterbiev last Saturday night, with the way he was “punched to the ground” by the IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion in Quebec City.
Froch thinks Smith (29-2, 21 KOs) was ill-advised taking this fight with the unbeaten Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) after an 18-month layoff and two easy fights before that at 175.
He feels that he should have used Anthony Yarde as a tune-up after that kind of layoff because he wasn’t prepared to face a wrecking machine like Beterbiev, who compares to a young Gennadiy Golovkin with the way he’s able to generate huge power on what looks like arm punches.
Drunken on Dazed Courage
Froch says the way that Smith tried to keep fighting back despite being knocked down was utterly futile. He was trying to time Beterbiev with one of his left hooks but missing badly and getting hammered with short punches from the powerful Russian.
After the second knockdown in the seventh, Smith still wanted to continue fighting, but his trainer, Buddy McGirt, saved his hide by climbing through the ropes to alert the referee to stop the contest.
Froch questions why Smith chose to take this fight after that layoff. Why did he do it? The money might have been too good for Smith to resist.
Now, Smith is talking about retiring, and it would have never happened if he’d vetoed the video of fighting Beterbiev and followed Froch’s more conservative advice of facing a lesser threat, like Yarde.
The Beterbiev Beast
“I thought the referee was about to wave it off. Smith had been dropped quite heavily. He’d gone down [the second time]. He slumped, and he didn’t decide to go down,” said Carl Froch to talkSPORT Boxing, talking about Callum Smith’s seventh-round knockout loss to Artur Beterbiev.
“He got punched to the ground, and then he stood up and showed a lot of bravery. He was badly hurt and carried on. He was still looking for that counter punch, the left hook. He was trying to time it, trying to catch Beterbiev as he was unloading.
“It was just like futile his attempts to try and stay in the fight because he was just getting out-muscled and changed with heavy shots,” Froch said about the way that Beterbiev was beating up on Smith in the seventh round last Saturday night.
“You could see they were hurtful punches. When he went down the second time, I thought the referee could have waved it off a second time, but he didn’t. He started counting. Smith, I thought he would have beaten the count. He would have climbed off the canvas, but Buddy McGirt climbed through the ropes and I think the ref saw that.
“Who’s advising him to take this fight after an eighteen-month layoff? I think he should have fought Anthony Yarde or somebody like that as a stepping stone before jumping in such an important fight as a light heavyweight.
“He’s like a monster,” said Froch about Beterbiev. “He’s a little bit like GGG in his prime when he was landing shots that looked like arm shots but having massive effects on his opponent. You’re thinking, ‘What is he hitting him with?'” said Froch.
