‘I was never hurt in first fight’: Billiam-Smith expects to avenge loss to Riakporhe

Chris Billiam-Smith believes Richard Riakporhe will need a lot more than his power to beat him in a potential rematch.

British cruiseweight Chris Billam-Smith has been on a run lately, but he’s still aware of his sole loss coming at the hands of Richard Riakporhe back in 2019, and tells Sky Sports that he’s looking forward to a rematch where he can prove how much he’s grown as a fighter since then.

Billam-Smith says a win over Riakporhe would wake up those still sleeping on his ability, much of which he believes goes unnoticed to the untrained eye, and that he’s developed more than Riakporhe since then. In fact, he believes the only advantage Riakporhe would have in a rematch is his power, which he says won’t be enough.

“That’s literally the only thing he’s got on me, his punch power and he’ll have to come up with a lot more than that to be able to beat me and I don’t think he’ll have it,” he said.

“It might be different when people can take those punches or handle his power a bit better,” he added. “I have boxed him before and I was never hurt in the first fight and I took some pretty fully fledged punches.”

At this point Billam-Smith is coming off a stoppage win over Mateusz Masternak last December, marking his 10th straight win since the split decision loss to Riakporhe at London’s O2 Arena.