Chris Billam-Smith 'very open' to Opetaia fight

A fight with Jai Opetaia remains of serious interest for Chris Billam-Smith.

Billam-Smith lost his WBO cruiserweight title in a unification clash with Gilberto Ramirez in November 2024 and returned to winning ways against Brandon Glanton when last seen in April last year.

Now a free agent after reaching the end of his contract with Boxxer, the former champion is back in the gym and assessing his options ahead of a possible return to the ring in the coming months.  

His former promoter Ben Shalom offered Billam-Smith a fight with Jack Cullen but couldn’t deliver the one he wanted against Opetaia.

“Well, I’ve never had an offer about an Opetaia fight,” he told The Ring.

“We were very open to listening to them about the next steps once my contract ended.

“But the only fight that has been offered to us is the Massey fight and it was only informally offered anyway, there was nothing official about that or the Opetaia fight.”

Despite being given the opportunity to fight Massey, that domestic clash isn’t a fight that interests Billam-Smith and he still believes he should be fighting at world level.

“I just don’t see any value in that fight at all,” he added.

“Even if they could come up with great money, it's more about the value of the fight for me.

“There is absolutely no point in fighting him because I don’t see what I gain from it. If I beat him in a round or two all it does is show people that I’m still at world level.

“But then there’s a chance I could do that in my next fight potentially for a world title - that would prove that I’m at world level. I proved that by beating Brandon Glanton anyway.

“That fight just doesn’t give me anything. Even if you think of the best case scenario, which is that I go out there and demolish him in a round or two, then it doesn’t prove anything.

“But if you look at the fight then you wouldn’t expect me to go in there and demolish him in a round or two because he’s tough and durable. I’m very confident I’d beat him but he’s durable.

"If I go and do the same or better than Opetaia did, all it does is prove I’m at world level. I’d rather do that in a more meaningful fight with more value and more on the line.

“If Massey went and boxed Glanton and did better than I did then there’s more value in the fight for me but at the moment, there’s simply no value.”

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