Callum Smith weighed 179.8 for his eight-round tuneup fight against Colombian veteran Carlos Galvan at Friday’s weigh-in for their undercard fight this Saturday, November 30th, at the Resorts World Arena, Birmingham, England.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Weigh-In Face-Off: Smith Towers Over Galvan
During the face-off, the 6’3″ Smith towered over the 5’10” Galvan, who looked uncomfortable being stared at. The former WBA 168-lb champion Smith had a blank, fish-like look in his eyes when he stared down the 33-year-old Galvan.
Galvan can punch a little, but his recent defeats against lesser fighters suggest he won’t last more than two rounds against Callum Smith.
Smith, 34, is coming off a seventh-round knockout loss to unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev on January 13th, and he needs a confidence booster. He’s not happy about being out of the ring for 11 months, and he vows not to be inactive like that again. We’ll see.
Galvan First, Then Buatsi
‘Mundo’ Smith says he wants to fight Joshua Buatsi for his WBO interim light heavyweight title, which could put him in position to fight the Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 winner for the undisputed championship.
Interestingly, the former WBA super middleweight champion Smith (29-2, 21 KOs), who is easily the most well-known fighter on the card in terms of worldwide recognition, is buried on the undercard, fighting a guy with 14 defeats, Galvan (20-14-2, 19 KOs) in an eight-rounder. It just shows how quickly a fighter’s career can drop off.
Smith vs. Galvan are fighting on the Sunny Edwards vs. Galal Yafai flyweight card. Those two are fighting for the vacant WBC interim flyweight title, and neither guy is seen as great talent. Sunny (21-1, 4 KOs) may soon be in the same boat as Callum Smith if he gets beaten by Yafai.
“Getting back to my winning ways and hopefully getting in a good performance,” said Callum Smith to Boxing News about what he hopes to accomplish in his fight this Saturday night against Carlos Galvan.
“I want to give another shot at becoming world champion again. I want to get back to being active again. I’ve always been at my best when I was active in my career. That fight makes sense. He’s the WBO interim world champion. That fight puts me closer to where I want to be. I want to be a world champion,” said Callum about his interim in fighting Joshua Buatsi.
“I want to be a world champion. I’m willing to fight anyone as long as it puts me closer to where I want to be. That’s a two-weight world champion. Beating Joshua Buatsi puts me closer to a win over anyone else,” said Smith.
Can Smith Reclaim World Champion Status?
Given Smith’s age and dire career outlook, he needs to take a chance by fighting Buatsi. Given Smith’s problems staying active and his failures when fighting big names, he’s got to take a risk. If Smith can land a big shot on Buatsi, he might be able to hurt him enough to finish the job.
Buatsi was staged in his recent fight against Willy Hutchinson on September 21. Although Buatsi still won the fight by a 12-round split decision, he looked vulnerable under sustained attacks.
“Yeah, it makes sense to me. Once I get this fight [Galvan] out of the way, we can sit down and see if that fight [Buatsi] can possibly get made. I’m here for it. I’m not sure on his side. I’m the best option for him, or he’s got other options,” said Smith.
“That’s the whole point of this fight: I can go into the New Year and target the likes of Buatsi and all the other top names in the division rather than being inactive for the entire year,” said Smith.
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