Can Billam-Smith Retain His World Cruiserweight Title?
Earlier this year, Britain’s Chris Billam-Smith won the WBO cruiserweight title in Bournemouth. Sunday December 10 sees him defend that title against the very experienced Mateusz Masternak.
Billam-Smith lives in Bournemouth so winning a world title at the Vitality Stadium meant a great deal to him. Now he defends his title for the first time but indoors (well it is nearly Boxing Day) at the Bournemouth International Centre.
As you can imagine it was an emotional experience for Billam-Smith when outpointing reigning champion Lawrence Okolie in May of this year. You can often bank on judges coming up with some very strange decisions.
That was in the case seven months ago for sure. Two judges gave the fight to Billam-Smith by seven and nine points. The other crazily declared the fight was a draw denying the challenger a unanimous decision, just a majority one.
So much at stake for Billam-Smith
It was still enough to crown a new champion in what is a very competitive cruiserweight division, both domestically and globally. A win over Mateusz Masternak could set him up for a fight against the WBO’s number one challenger, Richard Riakporhe.
Now that would interest Billam-Smith who lost to him four years ago. Other top ranked Brits in this division include Isaac Chamberlain (who he outpointed at this venue last year), Jordan Thompson, Ellis Zorro and the man he took the title from, Lawrence Okolie.
You can see therefore that there is no shortage of all-British world title fights that Billam-Smith could set his sights on in 2024.
Alternatively, he could also look to unify the division but that’d be a tough task. Other champions include WBC title holder Jai Opetaia (last seen on these shores quickly disposing of Jordan Thompson) and WBA champion, the unbeaten Arsen Goulamirian.
Billam-Smith will have high hopes of successfully retaining his title on Sunday. Winning the belt in Bournemouth was great for him, losing it there on his first defence would be the exact opposite emotion. He’s 11/50 at BetVictor to beat Masternak on Sunday and retain his title.
Mateusz Masternak won’t be a pushover this weekend. You can get odds of 7/2 at William Hill that he dethrones Billam-Smith.
The 36-year-old Pole is having his first fight since October 2022. On that occasion he beat undefeated Jason Whateley on points over 12 rounds. That took his professional record to 47 wins and five defeats. Not being in the ring for nearly 14 months isn’t going to help him a great deal.
Finally, a world title shot
The challenger made his professional debut 17 years ago but he’s had limited success at world level. He lost a fight for the WBA interim world cruiserweight title nine years ago but this is his first shot at a full world title.
Most of his success has come at European title level. He first won a European belt 11 years ago and last had a reign at that level in 2018.
He comes into this bout unbeaten in his last six professional fights and hasn’t lost for five years. 2015 saw him take on British boxer (and future world cruiserweight champion) Tony Bellew in London in another European title shot.
Fast forward eight years and while Bellew is in the jungle in ‘I’m a Celebrity….. Get Me Out of Here,(he’s 9/4 at BetVictor to win that show) the Pole is finally chasing a world title.
Of his five professional defeats, only once has he been stopped and that was due to a cut eye. 13/2 is the price bet365 will give you on him getting a points victory over Billam-Smith.
We look set for a great fight at Bournemouth on Sunday. Billam-Smith has so much to lose and his challenger finally gets a world title shot. The champion can end a successful year with his title intact but he might just need to go the full 12 rounds to get the win. That’s 5/4 if you place your wager with bet365.
