Joe Smith Jr. would prefer to become undisputed at light heavyweight over fighting Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
The WBO beltholder is keen to fight both Artur Beterbiev and Dimitry Bivol, with the Russians holding the three other belts between them.
Speaking to Brian Custer on the Last Stand Podcast, he admitted the financial allure of facing Canelo.
“At this point, everybody would choose the Canelo fight, just because there’s money to be made there,” he said. “But really, for my legacy, I want to be known as a great fighter, so I would like to fight [WBC/IBF titleholder Artur] Beterbiev and [WBA titleholder Dmitry] Bivol."
Smith is due to fight Callum Johnson on January 15 in New York to defend his belt. But he wants to face his erstwhile opponent Bivol - with Bivol winning in 2019.
“With this sport you never know,” Smith continued. “If they’re willing to come to me and fight, I’ll take any one of them. Those are the fights I want. I know I gotta get past Johnson and make a statement with him. That’s gonna open up the doors for these big fights to happen.
“The fights I want: I want to unify. I want Beterbiev and Bivol."
“Really, [Beterbiev and Bivol] are the only fights I want to take. It’s those two, unless Canelo comes up, and he wants to fight, I’ll take that fight. But I want to unify. I don’t want to go backwards. I’m trying to get all the belts.”