Chris Billam-Smith picked up another huge win on Saturday by defeating Richard Riakporhe, and now his trainer Shane McGuigan has plotted out his future plans, including a huge potential showdown against a dangerous opponent.
Billam-Smith avenged the only defeat of his professional career by beating domestic rival Riakporhe to retain his WBO cruiserweight title at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park in London.
The Bournemouth man was in control for the majority of the bout, running out a unanimous decision winner, although most onlookers had it a lot wider than the three judges scoring the bout did.
Attention has now turned to who Billam-Smith could potentially face next, and his trainer Shane McGuigan has told Boxing Social that he is targeting a huge future clash against the consensus number one fighter in the divisio Jai Opetaia.
“It’s the marquee fight of the division [facing Opetaia]. People think Chris Billam-Smith was easy pickings for Jai Opetaia, but I think he can beat him, I genuinely do.
“I have to say that Opetaia is the number one just by the way he beat Breidis who was originally the number one, but if Chris can go out and unify against Gilberto Ramirez and Opetaia can pick up the WBC belt, I know Badou Jack is champion but they’ve also got Norair Mikaeljan as the WBC champion, if we can get those to box and win world titles and we can go onto an undisputed fight, for me as a coach and someone who managed his career, that is the most important thing.
“Opetaia was happy to give up the IBF just because he wanted the money fights, but for us of course that’s got to be there but it’s about undisputed. Chris is never going to go up to heavyweight, he’s always going to stay at cruiserweight, so the most important thing is to fight for the meaningful belts. So if Opetaia can pick one up and Chris can pick another one up, it’s a dream.”
Opetaia is rumoured to return to action on the Anthony Joshua card taking place at Wembley Stadium in September, with a future bout against Billam-Smith potentially on the cards for 2025.
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