Stephen Smith reveals his brother Callum wants to fight newly-crowned WBC champ David Benavidez

Stephen Smith discusses his brother Callum's fight plans

Stephen 'Swifty' Smith, ex-boxer and brother of Callum Smith, spoke to Betway and revealed that his younger sibling wants to fight newly-crowned WBC champ David Benavidez in light-heavyweight unification.

Benavidez was elevated to WBC champ at 175lbs just this week after Dmitry Bivol vacated in favour of the trilogy with Artur Beterbiev after the summer, which is currently scored at one apiece.

Callum 'Mundo' Smith (31-2, 22 KOs) is coming off a huge upset win over undefeated Joshua Buatsi, who the former WBA super-middleweight champion defeated unanimously in February to win the WBO Interim light-heavyweight title.

What do you make of Dmitry Bivol vacating the WBC title, and could Callum challenge David Benavidez for the belt next?

SS: First and foremast, Callum and his team have to push the WBO to do the same thing and if Callum gets made world champion, then the next fight against David Benavidez could be for two titles rather than one. Callum is in the same situation David Benavidez has been in as interim champion so if the WBO take a leaf out of what the WBC have done, then Callum can be elevated to world champion, and it’ll be a unification rather than Callum challenging for the WBC title. It can then be a semi-final to go on and fight the main man for all of the belts.

So, it makes sense for Callum to wait and see what happens with the WBO?

SS: Just sit tight and see what happens. If they take the same stance as the WBC have and say one fight was fine, the rematch was okay, but you can’t hold the division up if they are number one and number two. They’ve both been undisputed champion so they’re just tying the belts up now.

How good of a fight is David Benavidez vs Callum Smith, and how does Callum beat him?

SS: It’s massive. I know David Benavidez has a fan friendly style and Callum likes Benavidez’s style too. It’s a fight he believes he can win and stylistically it’s a good match up for him. The way David throws punches and combinations, you have to have your wits about you all of the time so it’s a fight Callum would relish. The chances of it happening are becoming more likely and it’s music to his ears.

There’s a reason why David Benavidez is avoided, and you have to feel for him. He’s been in front of them all and still seems like he can’t get the Canelo Alvarez fight. They’re two Mexican fighters. If that was any other country in the world, the demand would be [incredible] but it hasn’t happened, and I don’t know for some reason. Canelo has always done his own thing and been the face of boxing but the fact this fight hasn’t happened when people have spoken about it for so long is a bit baffling.

Callum has to be sharp to win the fight. He must make sure that when David Benavidez gets on top and lets his hands go that he can counter the way he can do. It’s a good clash of styles and the styles will gel well. It’s a great fight but one Callum can box at range and let his shots go when picking his moments.

Callum produced a great win against the odds when beating Joshua Buatsi, what a story it would be to beat David Benavidez?

SS: No excuses but he lost to the better man in Artur Beterbiev but we know how his preparations went in camp for that fight. He didn’t spar and stuff like that but after the time out of the ring which was maybe 17 months, we expected people to doubt us but the way he was written off against Joshua Buatsi was laughable. We all laughed and said, ‘people don’t think you have the desire, Callum’. He has done unbelievable in boxing and earned a lot of money and became world champion.

Callum can walk away tomorrow but he’s in the gym working his a*** off all the time. The fact he is doing that shows the desire and he was in the gym November working hard on the pads daily and keeping in good shape and when he wanted a fight, Matchroom told Callum we’ve only got the bill in two weeks in Birmingham. Callum said he would fight and fought on two weeks’ notice. This is a former world champion living in the gym and fought on two weeks’ notice. The level he has been at is an absolute credit to the lad himself and his professionalism. Callum went in there, got five rounds under his belt and then went in against Joshua Buatsi.