🦈 Sink Or Swim

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Fight With Teddy Atlas Newsletter, your one stop shop for all things combat sports related, brought to you by Teddy and The Fight team.

Hall of Fame boxing commentator and trainer to 18 world champion fighters, Teddy Atlas shares his views on all things boxing. In addition to giving fight analysis, predictions, and a look at what’s happening behind the scenes in the boxing world, Teddy connects the tenets and lessons learned inside…

Every Friday We Bring You:

  • A combat sports news digest with all the headlines you need to know from Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.

  • Highlights from the podcast and across the fight world.

  • Fight times and information you need to know ahead of time.

  • How to’s and tips for Boxing from Teddy himself.

Fight News From Around The 🌍

Big Hitters In The Big Apple

As we enter the second half of 2022, yet another division in boxing seems to be heading towards having an Undisputed champion.

This year has already seen Jermell Charlo and Devin Haney join Canelo Alvarez as active undisputed champions in their divisions, and the division above 168 lbs is following suit.

Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr will contest the WBC, IBF and WBO crowns tomorrow night in New York, with the winner being in a position to push on towards the WBA strap, held by a certain Dmitry Bivol.

But before thinking about the Canelo conqueror, both men will have their eyes firmly faced on the other, as one mistake could prove costly with the kinds of punching power on display.

Joe Smith Jr is a formidable knockout artist in his own right, with 22 of his 28 wins coming within the distance, most famously becoming the only man to ever stop the legendary Bernard Hopkins.

His boxing ability is also nothing to sniff at. In his WBO winning performance against Maxim Vlasov, he showed good ring IQ and awareness down the stretch to be able to land the right punches to win on the cards.

But this is Artur Beterbiev, the only active champion in boxing who has never heard the final bell, having stopped every single opponent he's faced.

Beterbiev is by far the more adept technician, the better combination puncher, and the more effective of the two at keeping his opponents on the back foot.

When two fighters are essentially matched on power, it's the smarter of the two that ends up on top 9/10 times, and it's difficult to make a case for Beterbiev not being the smarter boxer. He'll likely look to take more risks going forward than Bivol or Maxim Vlasov did against Smith, but his solid foundations and ring IQ should give him an edge when it comes down to a firefight.

There are however question marks around Beterbiev, the first of which revolves around his age. He's approaching 38 years of age, having turned pro relatively late in his career.

The other revolves around his durability. He was put down by Callum Johnson back in 2018, and although he recovered to stop the Brit in 4 rounds, it was a sign that the supposedly immovable object could be hurt. Smith Jr hits just as harder if not harder than Johnson, so he'll definitely fancy his chances if he manages to hurt the Russian.

It's not often you can say that a fight has almost no chance of going the distance, but Beterbiev vs Smith Jr definitely falls into that camp.

Both men are big punchers and are eager to prove themselves as the top dogs in the division, especially with the shadow of Dmitry Bivol looming over them.

Their intangibles as fighters, as well as just what is at stake in terms of championship glory, should make this an amazing fight.

Standing Only

Mixed Martial Arts is an intensely mental sport. Mental strength, and more specifically the ability to rebound quickly from defeat is key to any kind of success in the octagon.

Calvin Kattar suffered perhaps one of the most comprehensive beatdowns in recent memory at the hands of former champ Max Holloway back in early 2021.

He then rebounded and delivered a beatdown of his own on up and coming contender Giga Chikadze, with a destructive mix of hands and elbows.

If the nature of his loss to Holloway may have clouded some people's views of him as a top fighter at featherweight, the Chikadze win put him firmly back on the radar of top contenders for the crown currently held, at least until the end of July, by Alex Volkanovski.

Tomorrow night Kattar faces an altogether different challenge on the road to his first title shot: Josh Emmett.

The Team Alpha Male member packs an exceptional punch– perhaps more than anyone else in the division – and has made improvements in his timing and overall technique since entering the UFC in 2016.

However, despite his punching power, he is approaching 40 and is much more one-dimensional in his game compared to Kattar.

While the Boston native doesn't possess the heaviest-hands amongst the 145ers, it’s not like he’s lacking in that department, with 3 KOs in his last 5 wins.

More importantly, he's used to operating at a 5 round tempo, with 3 of his last 5 fights having been 5 round main events. Emmett hasn't had to train for a 5 rounder since 2018, when he was knocked out by common opponent Jeremy Stephens.

Combine this with his relative youth and freshness compared to Emmett, and you can start to see things coming together for Kattar tomorrow night, especially if the fight drags into the later rounds.

It'll be a fascinating fight, with real implications when it comes to title contention. The winner will feel they have a real shot at the winner of the Volkanovski vs Holloway III, or at the very least a title eliminator against a Yair Rodriguez or Brian Ortega.

Fight ⏰ for this weekend

Boxing: Beterbiev vs Smith Jr (Saturday 18th/Sunday 19th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 12am Eastern/ 9pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 3am | Main Event: 5am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 12pm Eastern/ 10am Western | Main Event: 2pmEastern/ 12pm Western

UFC: Kattar vs Emmett (Saturday 18th/Sunday 19th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 7pm Eastern/ 4pm Pacific | Main Event: 9pm Eastern/ 6pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 12am | Main Event: 2am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 9am Eastern/ 7am Western | Main Event: 11am Eastern/ 9am Western

Don't forget to tune in to the latest episode 🎧

Thanks for being with us and see you next week #BANG💥