The two changes Callum Smith made since he suffered his lone loss as a professional prizefighter have made the former WBA super middleweight champion confident that he’ll capitalize on his next potentially legacy-changing opportunity.

Smith moved up to the light heavyweight limit of 175 pounds following his lopsided loss to Canelo Alvarez in their 12-round fight for the WBA and WBC 168-pound championships. The Liverpool native also switched trainers – from Joe Gallagher to retired two-division champion James “Buddy” McGirt – after Alvarez defeated Smith in December 2020 at Alamodome in San Antonio.

The 6-foot-3 Smith feels fresher at light heavyweight, the division in which he’ll challenge Russian knockout artist Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs) on Saturday night at Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada for Beterbiev’s IBF, WBC and WBO 175-pound championships. The 33-year-old Smith also believes McGirt helped him improve in the areas required to upset a vaunted champion who has knocked out every opponent he has encountered during his 10-year pro career.

“I feel like I’m a much better fighter under Buddy McGirt and at 175,” Smith told BoxingScene.com. “I feel like the two changes in me career came at the same time, but at the perfect time as well. I think the move up in weight benefited me massively and training under Buddy improved me in ways that I obviously needed and every fighter needs to improve in. So, I feel like it’s come at the right time for me. I feel I’m performing better than I ever had done. I think the time is now and I’ll become a two-division world champion.”

Smith (29-1, 21 KOs) hasn’t fought since he knocked out France’s Mathieu Bauderlique (21-2, 12 KOs) in the fourth round in August 2022 at Jeddah Superdome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He’ll end a layoff that has lasted five months longer than Beterbiev’s 11-month hiatus.

The 38-year-old Beterbiev was supposed to defend his titles against Smith, the mandatory challenger for his WBC belt, on August 19 at Videotron Centre. Beterbiev withdrew from that bout late in July due to an infection in his jaw that developed after he underwent a dental procedure last summer.

“Look, it wasn’t ideal,” Smith said. “I think when you’ve done pretty much all of a camp, to not get a fight at the end of it felt a bit of a waste. And it’s frustrating when a fight falls through, but I’ve been in boxing long enough to know that these things do happen. You’ve just gotta stay professional. And obviously, I had a bit of time off just to rest me body. I’d done the camp, mainly most of it, so I just had a bit of time off.

“And then it was just a bit I had to switch off mentally because I knew the fight was still gonna happen at a later date, so I had to switch off mentally from it. But yeah, I feel I’ve used the time well. I’ve had more time to prepare for the same opponent. So, it feels like a bit of two camps mixed into one, really. I’m glad it’s finally here now. It’s fight week and I’m looking forward to getting in there.”

Smith has fought just twice since Alvarez defeated him three years ago. He had much more time, however, to prepare to battle Beterbiev than the approximate five weeks he was afforded to train to challenge Alvarez during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was obviously a lot better,” Smith said of this training camp. “I think everyone knows that I’ve had a lot more time for this one.”

ESPN’s coverage of the Beterbiev-Smith doubleheader is scheduled to start at 10 p.m. ET. Super middleweight contender Christian Mbilli (25-0, 21 KOs), a Cameroon native who resides and trains in Montreal, will square off against Australia’s Rohan Murdock (27-2, 19 KOs) in the 10-round opener of the telecast.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.