Ringside Report: Chris Billam-Smith Gets Sweet Revenge Over Richard Riakporhe

Ringside Report: Chris Billam-Smith Gets Sweet Revenge Over Richard Riakporhe

By Will Lott

Five years after their last meeting, Chris Billam-Smith defended his WBO world cruiserweight title and finally avenged the one solitary blemish on his otherwise perfect record with a comfortable points victory in the backyard of challenger Richard Riakporhe. On a night that promised so much for Riakporhe at the ground of his beloved Crystal Palace, he was unable to find a way to have any noticeable success against the superior champion. A cagey first round, perhaps the only one of the first six or seven rounds you could give in favour of the challenger. In fact, up until the eighth round, it felt like one-way traffic. Billam-Smith was by far the more aggressive fighter but he found his good work smothered by Riakporhe, who maintained rather negative tactics for the first half of the fight. Through to the fourth round, it felt like there had been more clinches than punches landed between the two fighters.

As the fight went on, Riakporhe did begin to grow into the fight and have some success when he was able to get up close, but it never looked enough to swing the momentum in his direction. Round eight was when the fight threatened to come to life as on two occasions Billam-Smith found himself trapped against the ropes with Riakporhe throwing huge overhand rights and hooks to the body.

The ninth had a similar moment, but just as the crowd began to roar on the challenger, Billam-Smith found a way to recover. The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth rounds went in similar fashion to the middle rounds. Riakporhe continued to throw big shots in vain hope of landing something significant, but in truth, it never looked likely as Billam-Smith cruised his way to a comfortable points victory.

Riakporhe was eventually deducted a point in the final round after about eight warnings of using his head in the clinch. All three scorecards were a lot closer than they should have been for my liking. The official cards were tallied as 116-111, 115-112, and 115-112. But the right man walked away with the victory despite the scorecards giving Riakporhe more credit than he deserved.  

These two fighters looked a class apart from one another since their last meeting. For Riakporhe, it’s back to the drawing board as he will look to recover and force his way back into world title contention. For Billam-Smith, the world is now his oyster. A unification bout in America would be a dream for the champion, and he’s never been closer to achieving it. 

Elsewhere on the undercard, golden girl Fran Hennessey fought her way to a points victory against the tough Polish fighter Dorata Norek to improve her record to 4-0. The fight started cagey as many do before livening up in the middle rounds when both fighters began standing their ground and trading punch for punch.

Both showed a good chin and a good mentality as they continued going until the very end, with Hennessey deservedly coming out on top. Dan Azeez ended his night with a hard-fought and disappointing draw against the lesser favoured Hrvoje Sep. After a good opening round for Azeez, he let the Croat take control of the middle rounds, forcing Azeez to recover and finish the fight strong but not doing enough to secure the win. 

Jake Massey became European and Commonwealth cruiserweight champion after a close fight with Isaac Chamberlain. After a nervous start from both men, the fight was fairly even up until the middle rounds with both men having some success to the body and head before Chamberlain started to tire and Massey started taking more control. Chamberlain’s face began to swell noticeably towards the end, which definitely impacted how he finished, and Massey was able to win the last four rounds almost unopposed to secure an unexpected but deserved victory. 

The final fight of the undercard saw “entertainer” Ben Whittaker dance and showboat his way to a comfortable points win over challenger Ezra Arenyeka to become the IBF International light heavyweight champion. After all the talk and bad blood in the build-up, this fight felt as one sided as expected but never threatened to end in the knockout Whittaker had promised. The bad blood spilled over in the later rounds as Arenyeka threw a headbutt at the end of the sixth round and was later deducted a point for an elbow as Whittaker clearly displayed the difference in levels between the two fighters. Now Whittaker just needs to continue being pushed with each opponent.  

Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer