40% of the time, it works every time.
During this afternoon’s press conference for Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Anthony Crolla, Eddie Hearn revealed that Callum Smith would make the first defense of his WBA “super” super middleweight title on June 1st as part of of the Anthony Joshua-Joshua Miller undercard.
Bob Arum, meanwhile, raised the possibility of Smith facing Gilberto Ramirez in a unification bout should both fighters win their upcoming fights. Ramirez faces Tommy Karpency this Friday in his light heavyweight debut, though “Zurdo” has not vacated his super middleweight belt or committed to a permanent move to 175.
Smith (25-0, 18 KO) took decisions over unbeaten Erik Skoglund and kickboxing great Nieky Holzken on his way to the Super Series finals, where he triumphantly knocked out George Groves to secure his first world title. He’s been out of action since that September victory.
Assuming they find a live body for him and not just someone to keep him occupied while he waits for Ramirez, “Mundo’s” top unoccupied contenders are Chris Eubank Jr., Fedor Chudinov, and Bilal Akkawy. I think we can safely scratch the first one; think he picks one of the other two?
Thus far, the only confirmed bout on the Joshua-Miller undercard is Kal Yafai’s mandatory title defense against Norbelto Jimenez, though as Lewis Watson’s article mentioned, Kell Brook and Katie Taylor have been tentatively attached.