Callum Smith stopped Mathieu Bauderlique in the fifth round to win a WBC light-heavyweight title eliminator on the undercard of Joshua vs. Usyk 2 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Smith, the former super-middleweight champion, was making his second fight at light-heavyweight and he looked impressive from the outset. He was able to land his jab consistently and he also had success with his body shots. Bauderlique, the former Olympic bronze medalist, was game but he was simply outgunned by Smith.
In the fifth round, Smith landed a devastating left hook to the body that sent Bauderlique crashing to the canvas. Bauderlique beat the count but he was clearly hurt and the referee waved off the fight.
The win sets up a potential showdown between Smith and Artur Beterbiev, the WBC light-heavyweight champion. Beterbiev is one of the most feared punchers in boxing and he would be a tough test for Smith. However, Smith showed on Saturday night that he is a force to be reckoned with at light-heavyweight and he will be confident of challenging for the world title.
Fight card:
▪️Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua, 12 rounds, heavyweight – Usyk’s unified WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles ▪️Filip Hrgovic vs. Zhilei Zhang, 10 rounds, heavyweight ▪️Callum Smith vs. Mathieu Bauderlique, 12 rounds, light-heavyweight ▪️Ramla Ali vs. Crystal Garcia Nova, 8 rounds, super bantamweight ▪️Badou Jack vs. Richard Rivera, 10 rounds, cruiserweight ▪️Andrew Tabiti vs. James Wilson, 8 rounds, heavyweight ▪️Daniel Lapin vs. Jozef Jurko, 6 rounds, light-heavyweight ▪️Ziyad Almaayouf vs. Jose Alatorre, 4 rounds, lightweight
