Callum Smith fell short in his bid to become a two-weight world champion after suffering a TKO loss to Artur Beterbiev in Quebec City.

Beterbiev, 38, was due to defend his WBC, IBF and WBO light-heavyweight titles against Smith on August 19 but the unbeaten Russian-born Canadian underwent dental surgery which led to a postponement.

Liverpool’s Smith, 33, a former world super-middleweight champion, finally got his chance five months later but was ultimately unable to overcome Beterbiev’s bruising power.

After some even opening exchanges, Beterbiev began to dictate the fight from the third round onwards.

Smith showed a lot of heart to stretch the bout to round seven, but after being knocked down twice in quick succession his corner was forced to step in and Beterbiev improved his record to 20-0 with 20 knockouts.