Chris Billam-Smith is set to make a second defence of his WBO cruiserweight world title when he takes on Richard Riakporhe in an all-British affair at Selhurst Park this weekend. However, the challenger has now declared his belief that the champion is on the slide.
Riakporhe went toe-to-toe with ‘The Gentleman’ back in 2019 on the Dillian Whyte vs. Oscar Rivas card at the O2 Arena, handing Billam-Smith the lone defeat of his career with a split-decision win.
Still undefeated, Riakporhe has since risen into world title contention, but it was Billam-Smith who got there first and triumphed over Lawrence Okolie to claim the WBO belt despite his progress being derailed by ‘’The Midnight Train’.
Since that famous victory over Okolie last year, Billam-Smith has returned to defend the strap against Mateusz Masternak in December, although he was fortunate to get the stoppage win due to a shoulder injury to the 37-year-old – who was ahead on the cards at the time.
At the press conference ahead of their rematch, Richard Riakporhe explained why he believes the world champion may be past his best.
“I never really watch Chris, obviously I was at the [recent] fights but I was more there as a boxing fan. Sometimes I will go and see some of the comments and what people say about the performance and to say the least, it wasn’t really good [feedback].
“A lot of people were talking about your deterioration and brought it to light, that is when I thought ‘let me see what this deterioration is really about.’
“Boxing is not easy, sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes we have a off-day and a bad performance – it is normal, it happens all of the time. But, when I watch the fights back from a technical analysis [point of view], I start to see a lot of gaps and I wondered what the difference was.
“I watched my fight back with him and I noticed that he was much more live, he was fresh. I feel like it is the normal wear and tear on a boxer [which causes deterioration], when you are taking too many shots and you are gifted with a chin like CBS’, sometimes you want to say that it is not effecting you but it is. It’s science and you can’t avoid it, which is why we can’t stay in our primes forever.
‘We are going to see what he has left, maybe he is still alright, maybe he is not, but it all depends on when I land the shots in the fight.”
In response, Billam-Smith kept things short and sweet, quickly dismissing Riakporhe’s suspicions.
“My answer to the deterioration thing is that I think that he is just hoping for it, to be honest. It’s something that he is hoping for, there is no decline and you will see that on Saturday.”
Billam-Smith-Riakporhe goes ahead on Saturday 15th June, live on Sky Sports, in what will be the first boxing event at the home of Crystal Palace Football Club since 1951 – when Eddie Thomas knocked out Eric McQuade.
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