Artur Beterbiev walked into this fight with Joe Smith Jr as a favourite. With not even 6 minutes on the clock he walked out with an extra world title on his shoulder. This man does not mess about.

And for those who were never too aware of Smith Jr's capabilities, we aren't talking about a man who won his world title in a raffle. Eleider Alvarez, Maxim Vlasov & Bernard Hopkins (albeit past his time) sit as notable wins on his worthy CV. Yet he was not given a sniff in what felt like an assertation of dominance from the Russian.

The performance was a combination of extreme force, with flashes of the technical brilliance that led him to success as an amateur. Smith Jr did try to exchange his own power, but was going head-to-head with easily the P4P hardest puncher in the sport. Smith Jr was dropped late in the 1st, then three times in the 2nd before the punishment was deemed enough.

In doing so, Beterbiev became the first man to 'properly' knockout Joe Smith, with his 2010 TKO loss coming after he was forced to quit with a broken jaw. But the scariest thing about this all? Beterbiev is still determined to play down his skillset - "maybe one day I'll be a good boxer, my coach told me I'm not far away". Make of that what you will.

Beterbiev has been moved fast in his career, but his ascent to undisputed status could be record breaking. Michael Spinks & Roy Jones were the two from the 3 belt era, and there were another five in the 2 belt era - none of these however, reigned supreme in the time frame it could take Artur Berterbiev.

Of course this relies on boxing pulling in the same direction, which as we know isn't always the case. Dmitry Bivol is coming off of one of the biggest wins in the history of the sport, and regardless of his status as a champion, the power element of Canelo Alvarez will likely hold firm when it comes to the future path of that WBA strap... for now at least.

There is British interest which makes it all a little bit more exciting for us. It is viable that the two champions could have defences in London, with Joshua Buatsi rumoured for Bivol and Anthony Yarde looking increasingly likely for Beterbiev.

Whatever the next move for Artur Beterbiev, he has once again with Saturday's performance shown that his fights are an event not to be missed. If we do sit here when 2022 comes to a close with him as the first true king of the 4 belt era, then we must savour whatever is left.