{"id":296870,"date":"2025-07-27T21:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T21:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/296870\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T21:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T21:39:11","slug":"chris-billam-smith-open-to-difficult-fight-against-former-canelo-alvarez-opponent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/296870\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Billam-Smith open to ‘difficult’ fight against former Canelo Alvarez opponent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former world champion Chris Billam-Smith is still very much a title contender despite no longer having an unbeaten record. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Losing a cruiserweight unification bout against Gilberto Ramirez<\/a>, Billam-Smith\u2019s<\/a> record fell to 20-2. <\/p>\n

The loss meant that the English fighter no longer could call himself a cruiserweight world champion, having won the belt from Lawrence Okolie in 2023. <\/p>\n

Looking to get back into title contention, Billam-Smith is open to a fight with a former world champion. <\/p>\n

\"NathanPhoto by Scott Heavey\/Getty ImagesChris Billam-Smith open to fight with Sergey Kovalev while waiting for title opportunity <\/p>\n

\u2018The Gentleman\u2019 was able to return to the win column in his last outing, defeating Brandon Glanton<\/a> via unanimous decision on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jr.<\/a> vs Conor Benn<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Now with a 21-2 record, there is no scheduled opponent for Billam-Smith, who is eager to get back in the ring. <\/p>\n

In a recent interview with Seconds Out, Billam-Smith said he may have to \u2018wait out\u2019 his next title opportunity. <\/p>\n

When asked if there was any non-title holder that would interest Billam-Smith, there was just one name the fighter replied with. \u201cKovalev\u2019s flying around now, which is a bit mental. But, he has a great name.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of how the fight between himself and former Canelo Alvarez<\/a> opponent Sergey Kovalev<\/a> would play out, Billam-Smith said, \u201cIt would be a difficult fight for me, because he\u2019s a mover\u2026 So I\u2019d like to go in there and prove myself against someone with that style.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Kovalev\u2019s loss to Alvarez in 2019, he took a three-year hiatus from the sport. Returning in 2022, he would defeat Tervel Pulev, in what was his last fight for another two years. <\/p>\n

2024 and 2025 would see Kovalev fight once during each of the respective years. A 2024 loss and 2025 victory in April would see 42-year-old Kovalev with a record of 36-5-1. <\/p>\n

The Russian is also looking for an opponent, which has even led to Kovalev calling out Jake Paul<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Chris Billam-Smith says Jai Opetaia and Gilberto Ramirez aiming for fight in 2025 <\/p>\n

One of the main reasons why Billam-Smith cannot go straight into a title shot is that three of the division\u2019s four belts are held by two opponents looking to face one another. <\/p>\n

Despite Paul attempting to disrupt a fight between Jai Opetaia and Ramirez<\/a>, it appears as if the two cruiserweight champions could meet this year. <\/p>\n

In his interview with Seconds Out, Billam-Smith said that he understood that \u201cOpetaia and \u2018Zurdo\u2019 are looking towards the end of the year [to fight].\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman also added that he would be ready to be a replacement fighter for either champion should a withdrawal occur. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former world champion Chris Billam-Smith is still very much a title contender despite no longer having an unbeaten…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,28241,9080,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-296870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-chris-billam-smith","10":"tag-sergey-kovalev","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114927367873146502","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}