{"id":795250,"date":"2026-07-12T09:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T09:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/795250\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T09:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T09:49:10","slug":"chris-billam-smith-sets-timeline-for-next-fight-as-jai-opetaia-bout-remains-uncertain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/795250\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Billam-Smith Sets Timeline For Next Fight As Jai Opetaia Bout Remains Uncertain"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cThe Opetaia fight, I have no idea what\u2019s going on with him, but that was one that we\u2019re up for. I\u2019m not sure what the plan is there. I haven\u2019t heard anything,\u201d said Billiam-Smith to Sky Sports Boxing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to wait around. I want to be out again this year. Whether that\u2019s October, November, December time, they\u2019re the dates I\u2019m looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billam-Smith (22-2, 14 KOs) returned to winning form in June with a seventh-round stoppage of Ryan Rozicki after an action-packed contest that saw both men exchange heavy shots from the opening bell before Rozicki\u2019s corner halted the fight.<\/p>\n

Despite the punishment dished out in the bout, Billam-Smith said his recovery has gone smoothly and believes the contest looked more damaging than it actually was from the outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely a lot less brutal for me. A lot of the shots I was riding,\u201d said Billiam-Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have got some decent moves and head movement and defensive work, which was definitely needed in that fight. I think if I didn\u2019t have that, it could have been a different outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billam-Smith even joked that the cut he suffered has already healed, crediting himself with having \u201cWolverine skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back on the fight, he also praised Rozicki\u2019s durability after the Canadian survived a heavy uppercut in the third round that appeared close to ending the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the third round I hit him with that uppercut, and he looked like he was going down and somehow stayed up and 10 seconds later was throwing punches back,\u201d said Billiam-Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought at some point in the next few rounds I would get to him. There\u2019s only so much a human can take.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Opetaia fight remains one of the biggest fights available in the cruiserweight division, but Billam-Smith\u2019s comments make clear he is unwilling to delay his own career if negotiations fail to materialize. Instead, the 35-year-old intends to return before the end of the year while waiting for an opportunity to challenge the division\u2019s leading champion.<\/p>\n

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":"\u201cThe Opetaia fight, I have no idea what\u2019s going on with him, but that was one that we\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-795250","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\/795250","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=795250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}