Trainer Shane McGuigan believes we have not seen the best of former world cruiserweight titleholder Chris Billam-Smith.
Billam-Smith, from Bournemouth, England, was recently announced as a Zuffa signing as he prepares to return to the ring in June on Sky Sports.
Now 35, Billam-Smith won the title against former stablemate Lawrence Okolie before losing the WBO belt in a unification bout against WBA belt holder Gilberto Ramirez in Saudi Arabia.
Billam-Smith has not boxed since a victory over Brandon Glanton last April, but his time spent in the gym and working on himself will, McGuigan contends, pay dividends.
“Genuinely, I think he’s getting better,” McGuigan said. “I know it sounds mad to say it, but I think he’s getting better. He’s putting so much time and effort in. He’s working on things outside of boxing as well, like his strength and conditioning, in a different way at the moment. And I feel like it’s all going to come together. He’s still got more left.”
Billam-Smith is 21-2 (13 KOs), and he was recently joined in the Zuffa ranks by Canada’s Ryan Rozicki, making that a viable matchup. Both have high rankings with governing bodies: Billam-Smith is rated No. 3 by the IBF, No. 4 by the WBC and No. 5 by the WBO, while Rozicki is No. 11 with the IBF and No. 1 with the WBC.
Billam-Smith has already boxed Glanton, now with Zuffa and having been dispatched by the promotion’s prize cruiserweight, Jai Opetaia – who remains Billam-Smith’s top target.
“At the end of the day, they’ve got Jai Opetaia,” McGuigan added.
“We’re not obviously going to box Brandon Glanton, because he’s beat Brandon Glanton quite comfortably before. But the fact that they’re signing up some cruiserweights – they’re putting an emphasis on the cruiserweight division; just like MVP is putting an emphasis on female boxing, Zuffa boxing is putting an emphasis on the cruiserweight division. And that’s great. It’s a great party to be involved in, a great promotion company and a great outfit to be sort of involved in. And their link-up with Sky is huge. And they’ve got the infrastructure of Nick Khan and Dana White, and obviously the backing of Turki [Alalshikh], that I think they’re going to really do something special. And they’re going to come at it from a different perspective than the old-school way of thinking about things.
“And, yeah, they’re going to shake up a lot of governing bodies and people like that. But, you know, Sky are a purist channel as well. So they’ll have in place certain things that they want, that they want to keep traditional. But they also understand that Dana White knows how to create an unbelievable business model. And so does Nick Khan. And I think the two of them, it’s a breath of fresh air to boxing.”
McGuigan would like to see Opetaia face Billam-Smith this year.
Asked whether Zuffa’s signing of Opetaia was Billam-Smith’s biggest incentive for joining the promotional company, McGuigan said: “Yeah, Chris wants it. It’s like, styles make fights. Chris likes to be in there with punchers. He likes it. He’s a sadistic madman. But he performs his best when he’s up against it.
“And you’ve got people writing him off against Richard Riakporhe. You’ve got people writing him off against Lawrence Okolie. You’ll have everybody and their dog writing him off against Opetaia. But he believes he can win a world title and beat these guys. You can only be in the sport when you believe in yourself at that level. And he’s achieved so much. I think to get huge fights with a promotional outfit that is willing to back you and push you on a TV broadcast like that, it’s just an amazing position to be in. And I think he’s very grateful.”
Billam-Smith has been on Sky plenty of times before, first with Matchroom and then with Boxxer, and the network will need British fighters to top its new bills, with shows expected in June, August and September. Billam-Smith will likely be first up.
“No matter what people say, Sky Sports does the best numbers. That’s the truth,” said McGuigan.
“Even over BT, when BT were involved in the sport, like, [Sky]’s the most accessible channel. And I watched Ben Whittaker the other night [on DAZN], and no disrespect to the undercard, but I only switched it on and I had to rewind it and watch Ben Whittaker because it only lasted a round. I checked my Instagram and it had already finished. So I went and viewed it. But I’m keeping an eye out on talent and fighters, but I would have been watching that [had it been on Sky]. I would have been watching that show and that card if it had been on Sky Sports.
“Maybe I’m slightly more old-school. I like to sit and flick through the channels. But streaming, for me – unless it’s a Netflix or an Amazon or something like that – I just feel like sometimes it’s hard to get a hold of it. You have to really love the sport to be going and getting on the channel. And I think it’s a great place for them to be involved with Sky, because they’re going to get the eyeballs and they’re going to get the [general] sport fans and you’re going to become more of a household name on that platform.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
