Thursday, June 16
ESPN+ and Social Media, 1:00 pm ET, Beterbiev vs Smith press conference.
Friday, June 17
ESPN+ and Social Media, 1:00 pm ET, Beterbiev vs Smith weigh-in.
Channel 5 (UK), 4:00 pm ET, Nathan Gorman vs Tomas Salek. This card also features Marcel Braithwaite vs Thomas Essomba at 115 lbs, and a tentative return for Josh Kelly at 154 under the Wasserman banner in Liverpool, though Kelly doesn’t have a listed opponent yet.
ESPN+, 8:00 pm ET, David Cuellar vs Yader Cardoza. The ESPN+ schedule currently lists this. David Cuellar is a 20-year-old junior bantamweight prospect from Mexico. BoxRec lists nothing for him at the moment.
Saturday, June 18
ESPN+, 6:00 pm ET, Beterbiev vs Smith prelims. The usual prospect parade. Prior talk was Bruce Carrington, Jahi Tucker, Troy Isley, Kurt Walker, and Kieran Molloy all being in action, but we’ll see what we get, those things change a lot.
ESPN and ESPN+, 10:00 pm ET, Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr. We were also supposed to have a Jermall Charlo fight that most of you were going to ignore in favor of this one, so it could have been two out of three weekends where Showtime got buried by a better fight on ESPN, but alas, Jermall’s back is acting up, so everyone has to just watch this. Good news! This should be a bruising, physical, hard-hitting fight for as long as it lasts. Beterbiev has never gone the distance and is the pound-for-pound best technical mauler in boxing today. Smith, though, can crack, and Beterbiev is not the most defensively responsible guy. Robeisy Ramirez faces Abraham Nova in a good featherweight co-feature. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.