The cruiserweight division has long been a sort of way station for boxers moving on toward the bigger fighters and opportunities available at heavyweight.
Of course, Evander Holyfield and Oleksandr Usyk each went from being the undisputed cruiserweight champion to accomplishing the same feat at heavyweight. A number of other titleholders have also moved up over the years with varying success, including Tomasz Adamek, Steve Cunningham, David Haye, Jean-Marc Mormeck, James Toney and Vassiliy Jirov. And plenty of other cruiserweights have embraced the reality of no weight limits and the possibility of larger paydays.
Chris Billam-Smith has no plans to add his name to that list.
For his seven years as a professional prizefighter, Billam-Smith has competed within or slightly above the cruiserweight limit of 200 pounds, maxing out at 207 pounds in his fifth pro bout and remaining wholly within the limit for the past five years.
Billam-Smith won his first world title 18 months ago, capturing the WBO belt with a victory over Lawrence Okolie. And this Saturday, Billam-Smith (20-1, 13 KOs) will headline in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a unification bout with WBA titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (46-1, 30 KOs). The show will air on DAZN for free, with no subscription required.
The potential for more unification fights is more appealing to Billam-Smith, rather than heading up to heavyweight or the new bridgerweight division, with its maximum of 224 pounds, recognized by the WBA and WBC.
“Never say never, but I can’t see it happening,” Billam-Smith told me this week. “I’ve got a lot to achieve at cruiserweight. I’ve obviously won one world title, and there’s four [in total]. So, there’s more to collect.”
Billam-Smith said he doesn’t gain much weight between bouts, adding no more than nine kilograms, or 20 pounds.
“I’ve sort of grown into the weight throughout my career, so it’s never been too bad,” he said. “And I like to keep in shape and stuff. So, making weight, there’s always an effort involved, but it’s comfortable.”
Another reason to stick around is that the cruiserweight division has had more eyes on it in recent years, first as Usyk triumphed in the World Boxing Super Series en route to winning all four major world titles, and then with a number of new contenders stepping up in the wake of Usyk’s departure and making their own claim.
“Cruiserweight is getting more attention now over the last five years or so, which is great,” Billam-Smith said. “It’s just purely because of the name of the weight, because if people watch the fights and they think about what weight it is, it’s the same weight Muhammad Ali was. I probably get in the ring maybe heavier than Muhammad Ali got in the ring. He used to box around [213, 217 pounds] as a heavyweight. So, [cruiserweights] produce exciting fights because you’ve still got the power and the speed and the skill there, whereas the heavyweights, sometimes it’s just some big, superhuman men that are hitting each other, which people obviously like to see the knockouts and stuff.”
The first step in unification puts Billam-Smith in with Ramirez, a 33-year-old who previously held a world title at super middleweight from 2016 to 2018, had a stint at light heavyweight along the way, and arrived at cruiserweight last year. Ramirez took a unanimous decision over former light heavyweight titleholder Joe Smith Jr. and then seized the WBA cruiserweight title in March with a wide decision over Arsen Goulamirian.
If Billam-Smith succeeds, then the 34-year-old from Bournemouth, England, will become the first unified cruiserweight titleholder from the United Kingdom since Haye.
“Which should be a great honor. I really respected David’s boxing. I used to watch him and admire him,” Billam-Smith said. “And he actually beat Jean-Marc Mormeck on the day of my first amateur fight, which was just 17 years ago the other day [November 10, 2007]. So, it’s a nice touch.”
If he succeeds against Ramirez, then the remaining steps would be Jai Opetaia, who is the lineal cruiserweight champion and IBF titleholder, and Noel Mikaeljan, who has the WBC belt for now, though an interim title fight between Ryan Rozicki and Yamil Peralta has been ordered.
The next choice is clear for Billam-Smith.
“I’ve got a tough task on my hand on Saturday,” Billam-Smith said. “But for me, my next two fights will be Zurdo and then Jai Opetaia.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.