After years of pleading for a fight in his hometown, Chris Billam-Smith (16-1) will now have his second fight in a row at the Bournemouth International Centre in front of his army of local fans.
This time, ‘The Gentleman’ takes on Kosovo’s Armend Xhoxhaj, who has fought in Germany for the majority of his career and amassed a record of 14-2 since turning professional in 2018. This will be CBS’s first fight since vacating his European cruiserweight title, as he looks to mount a world title challenge.
The 32-year-old has been rumoured to fight Australia’s undefeated IBF world champion Jai Opetaia, who defeated Maris Brieidis back in July – and a fight like this is a must-win should he want that to remain a possibility.
Elsewhere on the card, Dan Azeez (17-0) defends his British light-heavyweight title against former super-middleweight world champion Rocky Fielding (30-2) in a fight that could have warranted being a main event itself.
Meanwhile, Caroline Dubois (4-0) is scheduled for her fifth fight of the year since her February debut and local lad Lee Cutler (11-1) will look to climb back up the British rankings as he targets a fifth consecutive win following his lone career defeat, where he lost to Bradley Rea.
Finally, the ever-popular Viddal Riley (7-0) looks for a quick turnaround after beating Ross McGuigan last weekend. He too will have British title aspirations as he fights for the fourth time this year, having not fought for the two years previous to his February win over Willbeforce Shihepo.
The action from Bournemouth all goes down on Sky Sports on December 17, in what will be BOXXER’s final card of 2022 with their broadcast partner, summing up an impressive first year of main events.