Jack Massey hoping Boxxer puts a ‘little bit of pressure’ on Chris Billam-Smith

The cruiserweight division has been one of British boxing’s most active and entertaining over recent years but despite his best efforts, the dangerous Jack Massey, 22-2 (12 KOs), spent years waiting for an opportunity to enter the fray.

Winning the fringe IBO title didn’t tempt any of his rivals into the ring and the 31-year-old from Chapel-en-le-Frith was scaffolding in sub-zero temperatures when he accepted a fight with former WBO heavyweight champion, Joseph Parker. A credible showing against the quality New Zealander only seemed to make a fight with him a less attractive proposition for his fellow cruiserweights. 

Eventually, he had a stroke of luck. When injury forced Micheal Cieslak out of his fight with Isaac Chamberlain, Massey got the call to step in and take on the Londoner for the Commonwealth and European titles.

He wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass him by and outpointed Chamberlain in a quality fight.

Massey has a fiancé and is the father to a one-year-old daughter. Boxing may provide him with the chance to accomplish his own sporting goals but it also needs to provide for his family and secure their future. When Massey got back to the dressing room with his belts, the realization that the years of perseverance had finally paid off hit him and he was taken over by one overriding emotion. 

“It was a big relief. It was one of those, ‘Is it every gonna happen?’ Time waits for no man and the next thing you know you’re in your mid-thirties and at the back end of your career. Now’s the time to push on. I’m in my peak years. I’m 31 and if we can get the big fights, now’s the ideal time,” he told BoxingScene.

“It was a funny feeling. I was absolutely buzzing but it was more relief that I’d got the titles. Rather than thinking, ‘I’m the European and Commonwealth champion’ it was a relief that I’d won and got myself on to the next step of the ladder. It’s probably one of the most confident feelings I’ve had before a fight, I knew I was going to beat him. It was just about getting onto the next step.”

Accepting a late notice opportunity usually means taking a leap of faith and involves cramming as much work as possible into the time available and a few sleepless nights worrying about weight.

Although he was given just a month to get ready for the fight, the call came just a few weeks after Lawrence Okolie joined Massey and the team at Champs Camp in Manchester to prepare for his WBC Bridgerweight title fight with Lukasz Rozanski. Sharing rounds with the former WBO cruiserweight champion meant that Massey was fit and had his eye in when the chance to change the course of his career presented itself. He and his trainer, Joe Gallagher, obviously ramped things up after accepting the opportunity but they could concentrate on tactics and tailored the last month of training to suit Chamberlain.

Still, European titles aren’t easy to win and Massey had to ask himself some serious questions as a determined Chamberlain battled to hold on to his titles.

“I think the only thing in the back of my mind was having it taken away by the judges going into his backyard,” Massey said.

“I definitely had to dig deep. Afterwards I watched it and I’m always my own worst critic but I was seeing little things I could do better. There were a couple of rounds where I fell asleep a little bit and I don’t really know why. I think having so long out of the ring showed in the fight. I came back in the back end of the fight. I just wanted it. I felt like there was nothing left in the couple of rounds when I went flat and I think that was just pure will. Obviously, Joe gave me a roasting as well. I jut pushed through and found it.

“It was a weird feeling. I didn’t feel absolutely goosed, it was almost as if I hit a bit of a wall.”

Massey joined up with Gallagher in March 2023, just a couple of months after his decision defeat to Parker. A trainer can put a fighter through the most demanding circuits he can conjure up and schedule sparring to test both their desire and ability to follow instructions through fatigue but there are some aspects of the boxer’s character that will only come to light on fight night.

Before the fight with Chamberlain, Gallagher and Massey had only had one outing together and that lasted less than two minutes. When Massey came back to his corner after the opening round of the high stakes fight, it was Gallagher’s first opportunity to give him instructions under live fire. The trainer instinctively knew which buttons to press as the fight entered the championship rounds and got the response he wanted as Massey dug in and cemented the victory. It was an experience which will only strengthen the partnership going forward.

“It’s good to get those rounds in. For my sake but also for Joe. He knows me in the gym but he knows me in a fight now,” Massey said. “He knows what makes me tick and what doesn’t. He said the right things in the corner anyway but the last fight in January only went one round so its good that he’s got to know me going through those hurdles in a tough 12-round fight. It’s put experience on us both and we got to know each other which is good.

“He can get to know you during sparring and training but it’s different in a fight.”

Massey has now set his sights on a fight with WBO cruiserweight champion, Chris Billam-Smith. 

A couple of hours after Massey had his arm raised at Selhurst Park, Billam-Smith dominated a disappointing Richard Riakporhe to successfully defend his title for the second time. Massey beat Billam-Smith as an amateur and becoming European and Commonwealth champion makes him a viable challenger for the 33-year-old’s world title. Having beaten Okolie and Riakporhe, Billam-Smith has set his sights on unifying the division but the large figure of Massey now looms large in his rear view mirror. 

“That’s the one we want. He’s been talking and saying that he wants to go to the States or that he doesn’t want any more domestic fights. That’s the problem. Hopefully Boxxer put a bit of pressure on him and we’ll see what happens.”