{"id":3731,"date":"2022-12-16T06:20:30","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T06:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/chris-billam-smith-on-world-title-shot-richard-riakporhe-rematch-and-ending-year-on-a-high\/"},"modified":"2022-12-16T06:20:31","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T06:20:31","slug":"chris-billam-smith-on-world-title-shot-richard-riakporhe-rematch-and-ending-year-on-a-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/chris-billam-smith-on-world-title-shot-richard-riakporhe-rematch-and-ending-year-on-a-high\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Billam-Smith on world title shot, Richard Riakporhe rematch and ending year on a high"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
<\/span><\/span>
Chris Billam-Smith is on a seven-fight winning streak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/thead>\n\n\n\n
Venue:<\/strong> Bournemouth International Centre <\/span>Date: <\/strong>Saturday, 17 December<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Coverage: <\/strong>Listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra & online from 22:00 GMT; reaction on BBC Sport website & app<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Chris Billam-Smith is a boxer on a mission in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The Englishman has big plans, including a world title shot, a crack at redemption against an old foe, and a fight at Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But first the 32-year-old aims to continue a hot streak to close out what has been a standout year.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘The Gentleman’ secured massive wins over direct rivals Tommy McCarthy and <\/span>Isaac Chamberlain<\/span><\/a> to become one of the country’s premier contenders at 200lbs, became a father, bought a house and headlined in his hometown.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturday, he faces Kosovo’s Armend Xhoxhaj at the Bournemouth International Centre.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s been a crazy year but for a good reasons,” says Bournemouth native Billam-Smith.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m riding a huge wave of momentum with the wins over McCarthy and Chamberlain and I’ve got to keep that going on because if I have a flat performance the last two wins are forgotten about. <\/span><\/p>\n

“People only remember your last performance.”<\/span><\/p>\n

‘I’ve been consistent, even in defeat’<\/h3>\n

Billam-Smith had hoped his final fight of the year would be against Richard Riakporhe.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two met in 2019, with Billam-Smith losing a split decision to his fellow Briton. Had he not taken a standing count in the seventh round, it would have been a draw.<\/span><\/p>\n

It remains the only blemish on Billam-Smith’s 17-fight record, and he has since put together a seven-fight winning streak.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I didn’t have to rebuild, but I built on that fight and the experience I gained,” he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’ve been consistent even in defeat. There was still a progression from the fight before, and going on from there and learning.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/span><\/span>
Billam-Smith’s only defeat was to Richard Riakporhe in 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Billam-Smith says he would have jumped at the chance for another fight with Riakporhe – who has taken his record to 15-0 – but the Londoner turned it down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both are looking to secure world title shots in 2023, and Billam-Smith says he would fight Riakporhe next if the opportunity presented itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

“All I heard is he won’t fight me in Bournemouth,” Billam-Smith says, though he admits he is not certain that is true.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I believe I’ll beat him next time so I have no real reservations about taking it.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Bringing a world title fight to Bournemouth<\/h3>\n

Victory over Xhoxhaj could set Billam-Smith up for a world title shot.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cruiserweight division has four world champions – Ilunga Makabu, Arsen Goulamirian, Jai Opetaia and Lawrence Okolie. All but Makabu are unbeaten.<\/span><\/p>\n

Billam-Smith says it is most likely he would fight Opetaia.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s a really difficult fight,” he says. “He’s a skilled operator. He’s also got a great win against Mairis Briedis.<\/span><\/p>\n

“He’s probably the number one in the division at the moment. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Hopefully we can get that done at Bournemouth’s stadium.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/span><\/span>
Billam-Smith is a huge Bournemouth fan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Riakporhe rematch could be ’20 times bigger’<\/h3>\n

Billam-Smith has an impressive to-do list for 2023 – world title bout, fight at his home stadium, and potentially even unifying the division – alongside renovating and moving into his new home.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We’ve got a video taking some of the rendering off the walls, just to say I was involved,” says Billam-Smith laughing, before explaining his father banned him from the building site for fear he would injure his hands.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the ring, his “perfect” scenario is to fight Riakporhe again when they are both world champions.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Billam-Smith knows he cannot overlook the unheralded Xhoxhaj.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I can’t take my eye off the fight just because some people think it’s an easy win because they’ve never heard of him,” he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

“[But] Richard and me could both win world titles and get a rematch down the line for unification. That’s brilliant for us. <\/span><\/p>\n

“That makes the rematch 20 times bigger than the first one.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Listen<\/span><\/span>\"Listen<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n


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Chris Billam-Smith is on a seven-fight winning streak Venue: Bournemouth International Centre Date: Saturday, 17 December Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra & online from 22:00 GMT; reaction on BBC Sport website & app Chris Billam-Smith is a boxer on a mission in 2023. The Englishman has big plans, including a world title […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3733,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3731\/revisions\/3733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}