Does it really matter if Smith Jr. beats Beterbiev?

Does it matter? Lol! If a three belt unification doesnt matter i guess we should just stop watching all together

 

It matters to Joe Smith Jr.

 

It will make Bivol's life a lot easier. Only Beterbiev can stop him from getting all the belts.

If Smith somehow clocks AB cold, Bivol will just beat Smith again (after he takes care of Zurdo Ramirez).

 

Given it would be a huge shock - nearly everyone expects Beterbiev to win even if Smith has a punchers chance - then, hells yes of course it matters. And even if it was a lot closer than that is still a unified 175 fight between the most-feared dude @175, and arguably the hardest hitting puncher in that division. How can it NOT matter?

And as other's have alluded, if this doesn't matter, why does any other fight matter?

Hey, Spence vs Crawford doesn't really matter because they will - e.g. both duck Boots - insert whatever spurious logic you can come up with.

You can apply that kind of 'illogical logic' to any fight.

 

Does beating the unified champion matter?

Of course it does. The whole point of fighting in the LHW division is the fight Beterbiev.