MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. Canada’s Quebec City will host a title-defense bout in August between champion Russian boxer Artur Beterbiev and UK-based challenger Callum Smith, Russian fight promotion company Top Rank announced to TASS on Thursday.

"The Beterbiev-Smith bout will be held in Quebec City in August. The exact date will be announced later," a Top Rank spokesman told TASS.

Russia’s 38-year-old Beterbiev boasts an unblemished professional boxing career record of 19 wins, all of which were earned by knockouts. He is currently the champion in the World Light Heavy weight class (under 79.38 kg) for the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Confederation (WBC), and World Boxing Organization (WBO).

Great Britain’s Callum John Smith, aka "Mundo," is 33 years old and boasts a professional boxing record of 29 wins (21 by KO) and one defeat.

Ban on Russian boxers from international tournaments

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations in February 2022 to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in all continental and global tournaments.

In early March 2022, the International Boxing Association (IBA) barred boxers representing Russia from participating in international sports events. However, on October 5, 2022, the IBA Board of Directors reversed the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes competing in international competitions.

After Tokyo’s turn hosting the Olympic flame at the 2020 Summer Games, it will travel next to Paris for the Summer Games in 2024, and then to Los Angeles in 2028. In 2021, at the 138th IOC session in Tokyo, Brisbane, Australia, was selected to host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games.

At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments but only under certain conditions.

Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.