Newly crowned WBO cruiserweight world champion Chris Billam-Smith is still waiting to determine his next move.
Last month, before a crowd of 15,000 fans in his hometown of Bournemouth, Billam-Smith pulled off one of the year’s biggest surprises when he dropped Lawrence Okolie three times to secure a twelve round decision win to capture the WBO belt.
Okolie has vowed to exercise an immediate rematch clause, but it’s not yet clear if he will indeed go in that direction or take an interim-fight before pursuing a second encounter to recapture the WBO belt.
Billam-Smith believes a rematch against undefeated contender Richard Riakporhe, the only man to beat him as a professional, would be a bigger fight.
The International Boxing Federation recently ordered Riakporhe get a mandatory shot at IBF world champion Jai Opetaia. The British contender entered the world title picture after Mateusz Masternak withdrew from his mandatory crack at Opetaia.
Should Riakporhe win, it would set the stage for a high-stakes unification with Billam-Smith.
“If the Lawrence rematch happens then so be it. But it would be a hard sell because of the way he fights, and he’s been beat now,” Billam-Smith said to The Daily Mail.
“Richard Riakporhe, it would be brilliant if he can win a world title and we can unify. I think that would be a fantastic fight. He’s a good guy really but he likes to talk a lot and we’ve spoke a lot over the years since the first fight and he knows how dangerous the fight is for him.
“I think now it’s about him getting a world title and us unifying against each other. I think that would be the biggest fight that I could possibly have in the near future. Let’s hope we can get that one over the line.”