Callum Smith believes he has got a point to prove in Riyadh, going into the fight against Joshua Buatsi for the WBO interim light heavyweight title on Saturday.
The light heavyweight fight is part of a blockbuster card in Riyadh, with a rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dimitri Bivol for the undisputed light heavyweight title headlining the night, while heavyweight star Daniel Dubois is also in action against Joseph Parker
In a recent interview with Talksport Smith said:
“I think mentally it just gives you that point to prove, I believe I am the better man and when you see the bookies put you as the underdog and people backing you to lose it just gives you something to prove and that chip on your shoulder in training.
“But I approach it like every other fight, I always believe the best version of me turns up then and this fight is no different.
“I worked with my team on things I believe will be beneficial come fight night and I hope the best version of me steps through those ropes on Saturday night and I’m fully confident I will do that”.
Previous Fight
34-year-old Smith was defeated in his last fight against the current undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev and he will be looking for a potential rematch with a win over Buatsi.
The Liverpool born fighter believed the long time out of the ring may have impacted his performance against the Russian.
In an interview with Sky Sports he said:
“I hate fighters who make excuses, but I had 17 months out of the ring, I didn’t do any sparring for five or six weeks before hand and had a bit of a rib problem as well so preparation wasn’t ideal.
I’ve come away and assessed what went wrong and corrected things and I believe I am a better fighter because of it”.
The fight starts at 5:45pm in the UK on Saturday night
(Featured image courtesy of Alamy images)
