Callum Smith: I’ll be champion by next year

BoxingNews.com

By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBC contender Callum Smith (21-0, 16 KOs) believes he’s got the style to defeat IBF super middleweight champion James “Chunky” DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) when or if the two of them face each other in 2017. Never the less, Smith, 26, believes he’ll defeat DeGale or WBC 168lb champion Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) to become a world champion by next year.

Smith has to wait a little bit longer before he gets that shot, as DeGale and Jack are facing each other early next year on January 14 in a unification match on Showtime Boxing at a still to be determined venue in the U.S.

The unification match between DeGale and Jack has taken too long in Gilfoid’s estimation for it to happen. It should have happened in September instead of being dragged out until 2017. The fighters need to fight each other already and move on, because it’s not that great of a fight anyway. I can understand dragging out a fight if it were one that the boxing public was demanding to see, but there’s not a huge demand for DeGale vs. Jack.

It’s a simple fight involving two fighters that don’t have fan bases in the U.S as of now. They need to fight each other, and keep staying active if they want to become stars. It’s not going to get it if the two of them just fight once a year. DeGale fought only once in 2016 in defeating Rogelio Medina by a 12 round unanimous decision last April. Jack fought only one time as well in fighting to a 12 round draw against Luician Bute last April.

“I’ve been a fan of his style, but I do think I’ve got the beating of him and I’m different to anyone he’s faced previously,” said Smith to skysports.com about DeGale. “People haven’t seen the best of me yet and I’ll raise my game for a world title. It will be a tough fight and a good fight to watch, but I do think I’ll be a world champion next year.”

The 26-year-old Smith is going to need to wait a while before he gets a crack at the winner of the DeGale-Jack fight. The good news is that he’s guaranteed a shot at the winner for the World Boxing Council belt unless they vacate the title, which is can’t see them doing.

Smith is ranked #1 with the WBC, and he’ll be there to fight the winner once they get the fight out of the way. I suspect that the negotiations between Smith and the DeGale-Jack winner might take a little while, but it shouldn’t be a big deal if DeGale is the one that emerges the winner of that fight. He’s got the same promoter as Smith, so it’s not as if they’ll need to work with a different promoter or anything to get the fight done.

Smith doesn’t have a fight lined up right now. He last fought in September in defeating Norbert Nemesapati (22-4, 16 KOs) in six rounds at the O2 Arena in London, England.