It’s on to the next one for Roman Fress.
WBO President Gustavo Olivieri confirmed on Monday that Chris Billam-Smith is no longer in the mix to challenge for the sanctioning body’s interim cruiserweight title. The ruling came at the end of the deadline imposed by the Puerto Rico-headquartered group; the deadline was established due to the lack of communication from Billam-Smith and promoter BOXXER following last week’s purse bid result.
“Team Billam-Smith, through Boxxer, did not confirm participation under the purse bid won by SES Promotions after a 48-hour extension expired today,” Olivieri posted on social media, as part of his full transparency policy. “The WBO will proceed to select the next available contender & rule accordingly.”
The development comes just days after SES Boxing – Fress’ promoter – secured the rights to the secondary title fight. SES was the lone participant for the October 16 hearing and submitted a bid of $156,921 – just above the modified minimum for the ordered fight to move forward.
A working fight date of January 14 was offered, likely to have taken place in SES and Fress’ home base of Magdeburg, Germany.
However, it was always a long shot that England’s Billam-Smith, 21-2 (13 KOs) – a former WBO 200lbs titlist – was going to accept a $94,152.60 payday, 60% of the bid, to make the road trip.
That said, it was up to his team to inform the WBO that their side was no longer interested in moving forward with the fight.
They had a similar opportunity when the October 3 purse bid came and went without any participants. The minimum bid at the time was $300,000, after which the WBO Championship Committee agreed to lower that amount by 50% ahead of the rescheduled hearing.
Boxxer did not participate in either session.
As BoxingScene previously reported, Billam-Smith’s other options are relatively thin. Boxxer has yet to launch its new platform deal with BBC, after the company’s deal with Sky Sports concluded earlier this year.
Additionally, the other belts are tied up for the immediate future. The WBO agreed to an interim title fight since its full beltholder, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, 48-1 (30 KOs), is recovering from shoulder surgery performed earlier this year.
Mexico’s Ramirez also holds the WBA title. He ended Billam-Smith’s WBO reign with a convincing 12-round unanimous decision win in their November 2024 unification bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
At the moment, the WBA – notorious for its liberal use of secondary titles – has not called for a “world” or even interim cruiserweight title fight.
Lineal and IBF champion Jai Opetaia, 28-0 (22 KOs), is scheduled to next face mandatory challenger Huseyin Cinkara on December 6 in Broadbeach, Australia.
WBC titlist Badou Jack, 29-3-3 (17 KOs), will next face Noel Mikaelyan on December 13 in a rematch to his disputed win in their May 3 title fight in Riyadh.
Meanwhile, Fress, 23-1 (13 KOs), will await next instructions from the WBO.
The Kazakhstan-born boxer is currently riding an eight-fight win streak since a May 2022 split decision defeat to Armend Xhoxhaj. Fress’ most recent victory came in a 10-round unanimous decision over Michael Seitz on May 17 in Magdeburg, a show commemorating SES Boxing’s 25th anniversary.
The highest rated contender after Billam-Smith and Fress is third-ranked Umar Salamov, 32-2 (24 KOs).
The 31-year-old Russia-born, Las Vegas-based bruiser has won six in a row, all since he moved up to cruiserweight in 2022. His last defeat came in a December 2021 title challenge of then-unbeaten WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol, now the lineal and unified IBF, WBAand WBO champ at the weight.
WBO officials are normally measured in their selection process, be it for interim title fights or even the occasional title eliminator. The sanctioning body will first gauge interest with the targeted contenders before ordering such a fight, which means that Salamov and his team can soon expect a notification on the subject.
