{"id":656010,"date":"2026-05-07T18:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/656010\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T18:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:06:12","slug":"ryan-rozicki-warns-chris-billam-smith-over-jai-opetaia-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/656010\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Rozicki Warns Chris Billam-Smith Over Jai Opetaia Talk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxingnews24.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add EBoxing News 24as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqLAgKIiZDQklTRmdnTWFoSUtFR0p2ZUdsdVoyNWxkM015TkM1amIyMG9BQVAB?ceid=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow Boxing News 24 on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Rozicki thinks that kind of thinking could backfire badly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s a mistake,\u201d Rozicki told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/boxing\/news\/12183\/13540883\/chris-billam-smith-hits-back-after-next-opponent-ryan-rozicki-insists-his-jai-opetaia-fight-plan-is-a-mistake\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sky Sports<\/a> about Billam-Smith discussing Opetaia before their fight is even out of the way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s disrespectful because he\u2019s getting asked the question, he\u2019s answering the question. He\u2019s just responding to questions, but the way he\u2019s responding shows me that they\u2019ve already got their eyes set on Jai, they already got their eyes set on these bigger fights than me, and I don\u2019t think you should ever look past somebody like me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rozicki\u2019s warning centered on his punching power and Billam-Smith\u2019s tendency to get dragged into hard fights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he switches off for even a fraction of a second, then he\u2019ll be switched off,\u201d Rozicki said.<\/p>\n<p>The Nova Scotia puncher made it clear he is not thinking beyond the opening bell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think about the first round against Chris and just landing shots, landing clean shots on his head. Whatever I can hit and just hit him until the fight\u2019s over,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Billam-Smith rejected the idea that speaking about Opetaia means he is overlooking Rozicki. He argued that planning ahead is part of how he keeps himself motivated during long training camps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople believe that talking about future opposition is looking past an opponent. But there\u2019s something in psychology where you also need to plan ahead,\u201d Billam-Smith said.<\/p>\n<p>The 35-year-old added that his previous fight against Brandon Glanton felt empty because he had nothing lined up beyond it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhereas this fight leads to something and you can find more from yourself because you\u2019ve got your eye on something beyond it,\u201d Billam-Smith said.<\/p>\n<p>The June 6 fight in Bournemouth could decide whether Billam-Smith moves back toward a title shot against Opetaia or whether Rozicki derails those plans before they properly begin.<\/p>\n<p>Olly Campbell is a boxing journalist who has covered the sport since 2014, providing ringside reporting and technical analysis of major bouts. His work focuses on fighter tendencies, tactical adjustments, and the details that shape high-level competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rozicki thinks that kind of thinking could backfire badly. \u201cI think it\u2019s a mistake,\u201d Rozicki told Sky Sports&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-656010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}