Chris Billam-Smith won't 'wait around' for Jai Opetaia after brutal Ryan Rozicki win | 'I want to fight again this year'

10.07.2026, 08:39 skysports.com

Chris Billam-Smith is determined to fight again before the end of the year, whether Jai Opetaia is ready or not.

Billam-Smith overcame Ryan Rozicki in a tremendous, brutal cruiserweight battle last month.

But the Bournemouth man is already well enough recovered to box once more in the final quarter of 2026.

"It was definitely a lot less brutal for me," Billam-Smith told Sky Sports. "A lot of the shots I was riding.

"I have got some decent moves and head movement and defensive work, which was definitely needed in that fight. I think if I didn't have that, it could have been a different outcome."

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Even his cut has healed. "Wolverine skin!" he joked.

Billam-Smith has made no secret of his desire to face Opetaia, widely acknowledged to be best in the division.

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"The Opetaia fight, I have no idea what's going on with him but that was one that we're up for. I'm not sure what the plan is there. I haven't heard anything," Billam-Smith said.

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"I'm not going to wait around," he continued. "I want to be out again this year. I've no idea what's next.

"Whether that's October, November, December time, they're the dates I'm looking at."

Billam-Smith had to pay tribute to his last opponent's "freakish powers of recovery".

"It was good to get through that again because I'd been so long out the ring," Billam-Smith said. "It was great to see how well conditioned I am.

"In the third round I hit him with that uppercut and he looked like he was going down and somehow stayed up and 10 seconds later was throwing punches back!"

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He couldn't finish the such a rugged operator with one punch - so he decided to channel the high volume of approach of Joe Calzaghe. "A lot slower version of Joe Calzaghe and a lot less skilled!" Billam-Smith laughed. "But I thought as long as I keep punching the ref will jump in.

"I thought at some point in the next few rounds I would get to him. There's only so much a human can take."

The Canadian's corner eventually withdrew him after seven all-action rounds.

Billam-Smith won the fight convincingly. There's no case for a rematch, other than it was utterly compelling to watch.

"It was a very entertaining fight," Billam-Smith said, "if he has a good run and I'm on a good run and we get to that level again, I'm sure we could do it again."