Chris Billam-Smith explains why he turned down Jai Opetaia

When the time is right, Jai Opetaia and Chris Billam-Smith, arguably the world’s two best cruiserweights, will share a ring to clear up any uncertainty regarding the identity of the number one fighter at 200lbs. 

That’s the message Billam-Smith wishes to send to both Opetaia and the boxing world as he prepares to potentially fight the WBA belt-holder Gilberto Ramirez in November. He also knows this is a vision shared by Opetaia, the IBF champion whose next fight takes place against another Brit, Jack Massey, on October 12 in Riyadh, and who had initially hoped he would be fighting Billam-Smith on that date instead. 

“That’s the fight people see as the number one [fight] in the division,” Billam-Smith, 34, said on Sky Sports’ Toe 2 Toe. “We’ve both got fights in the meantime but I said, ‘Look, I’ll be ready in November or December.’ He [Opetaia] said we got offered it 10 weeks out and that’s long enough for a camp, and that is right, but I was in America at the start of a three-week holiday. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to start properly training until last week. I then would have had a six or seven-week camp, I think, and Opetaia is a very, very good fighter. 

“But I don’t think he’s as good as the hype at the moment. The only name on his record is [Mairis] Briedis; a very good name, but what Briedis was it? In the second fight we saw a very old Briedis and in the other one he had been out [of the ring] for a while and there were rumours he was ill and stuff. What Briedis were you getting? Definitely not a prime Briedis.”

More than fear, it is perhaps a mark of respect that Billam-Smith, 20-1 (13), seems willing to entertain a fight with Opetaia only when he can be certain he will be at his absolute best. He knows, after all, that his best will be essential on the night and that any hope he has of beating Opetaia rests squarely on his ability to raise his game to new levels. Any less than that will see him fall short, one suspects – particularly against an opponent as buoyant as Opetaia, 25-0 (19). 

That written, there is a steeliness to Billam-Smith these days, as well as a determination to both prove himself and find out how far he can go. It is for this reason he has, since beating Richard Riakporhe in June, been so adamant that his next fight will be a unification bout and that more belts will soon be coming his way. This could be what leads him to Ramirez in November, and it could also be the thing that leads him to Opetaia in the first quarter of next year, by which point both cruiserweights will have had all the notice and preparation time they need.