Joshua Buatsi vs Callum Smith Predictions: It’s ‘Just Business’ time for ‘Mundo’ Smith

Joshua Buatsi defends the WBO interim light heavyweight championship against Callum Smith this Saturday, February 22. The bout takes place on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev’s undisputed championship bout in the same division against Dmitry Bivol. The event takes place at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh with Sky Sports Box Office, TNT Sports Box Office and DAZN PPV broadcasting.

Here are my Buatsi vs Smith predictions ahead of this 175lb collision.

Joshua Buatsi vs Callum Smith Odds

Buatsi is your favourite at 8/15 while ex-champ Smith is 13/8. The draw is priced at 16/1.

Joshua Buatsi vs Callum Smith Fight Preview

Three years separates these two men, with Buatsi the junior at 31. But in boxing terms they are poles apart. Buatsi is finally reaching the summit of a gradual rise, while Smith’s career has been him ascend to the very top before being nudged from the peak. 

Buatsi is an interim world champion with one eye on the incredible main event of this show. His secondary belt, if retained, should entitle him to a crack at the Beterbiev-Bivol 2 winner. But in order to still have that WBO strap come the night’s end, he must get through Smith.

Smith has been in the very biggest fights. He was an early adopter of the Saudi boxing revolution, beating George Groves in Jeddah in the final of the World Boxing Super Series to win the WBA and The Ring 168lb belts. 

Liverpool’s ‘Mundo’ would defend those belts twice before losing them to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, finding himself among the dozens thoroughly dominated by the future Hall of Famer. Despite the result, to even reach the very biggest stage against the defining fighter of the modern era is an incredible achievement. 

Smith put the pieces back together up at light heavyweight, taking out Lenin Castillo and Mathieu Bauderlique in highlight-reel finishes that had many talking up his power. But Saturday main eventer Beterbiev has the last word on light heavyweight power and he blitzed Smith in seven rounds a year ago.

This setback took the Liverpudlian hero time to recover from. Smith was not back out until November, where he won a last-minute addition to the Sunny Edwards vs Gal Yafai card in Birmingham. It was odd seeing a former world champion on a YouTube preliminary, but the important thing is he stopped Carlos Galvan in five rounds. It is now clear this was a keep-busy mission to warm up for Saturday’s outing.

What a mission it is. Buatsi is 19-0 and has long been tipped for world title stardom. Some have derided the slow route he has taken. There have been long stints spent holding ranking belts, two spins with the British title and a brief Commonwealth reign too. But Buatsi has stepped up in his most recent outings.

The first was a hotly-anticipated domestic scrap with then-unbeaten friend Dan Azeez. It had long been thought their relationship would preclude a meeting, but both were keen. The fight was largely dominated by Buatsi, who took home a points decision.

Then in his last outing, Buatsi took to the big stage at Wembley Stadium on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois. His opponent was the dangerous Scot, Willy Hutchinson. Buatsi had his man down twice, while Hutchinson also lost a point for use of the head. That didn’t stop one judge having him a 113-112 winner. But that card was cancelled out by marks of 115-110 and 117-108 in Buatsi’s favour.

Now ‘Just Business’ takes on the most decorated foe of his career. A man who has fought the best fighters of a generation and has emerged with a CV that includes genuine world titles. What a stage to step-up on. An opponent and a challenge worthy of this most opulent of fight cards.

Joshua Buatsi vs Callum Smith Full Card

Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol

Joseph Parker vs Martin Bakole

Shakur Stevenson vs Josh Padley

Carlos Adames vs Hamzah Sheeraz

Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Israil Madrimov

Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel

Joshua Buatsi vs Callum Smith

Joshua Buatsi vs Callum Smith Prediction

I think it is Buatsi’s time. Smith has been an absolute revelation throughout his career. At one stage he was the true super middleweight champion of the world, continuing a tradition of other great Britons like Joe Calzaghe.

But times change and hurtful beatings at the hands of Canelo and Beterbiev have blunted that edge. Buatsi has had a comfortable existence. He doesn’t win by knockout much these days, but I fancy him to score a points win at 5/4.

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