Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr. faced off in a light heavyweight title unification, Saturday night in New York. Beterbiev came in undefeated with the with the WBC and IBF titles, while Smith entered the contest as the WBO champion.
Both men have reputations as hard punchers, but the knockout artist in Beterbiev clearly had the heavier hands and he went home with those three light heavyweight belts. Beterbiev scored a knockdown late in the opening round, and twice again soon after the second round started. He wobbled him again moments later, prompting the referee to mercifully put a stop in the action.