Tonight in London, it was a case of revenge, not repeat, as defending WBO cruiserweight champ Chris Billam-Smith retained his belt with a 12-round UD over Richard Riakporhe.
The fight, five years after these two rumbled, with Riakporhe winning a decision back then, saw Billam-Smith show how much he has improved as a fighter. Winning via scores of 116-111, 115-112, and 115-112, Billam-Smith is now 20-1(13). Riakporhe, confident of scoring a KO this time, lost for the first time as a pro and is now 17-1(13).
It wasn’t a fan-friendly fight tonight, far from it. Instead, we saw an, at times, ugly fight, one that had plenty of holding and mauling and rough stuff inside. Riakporhe sometimes got home with some big right hands, but Billam-Smith is a durable, stubborn fighter. The defending champion was busier, while Riakporhe could not get much of anything going.
The referee worked hard tonight, breaking the two men up and issuing warnings for the rough stuff and the holding. Eventually, Riakporhe was docked a point in round 12 for excessively using his head. The docked point didn’t make much of a difference in the end, with Billam-Smith having the points in the bag.
Charitably described as “an intense chess match” by some, tonight’s fight, one we expected to be quite explosive, was a snoozer, a tough-to-watch, indeed quite forgettable. But the good news for Billam-Smith is he has shown that he will really take some shifting; he has grown as a world champion, and there are some big fights out there for the reigning WBO champ, not least possible unification fights with the other rulers at 200 pounds; these being Jai Opetai, Gilberto Ramirez, and Noel Mikaelian.
Again, Billam-Smith is not the most exciting fighter out there; although Riakporhe takes half of the blame for tonight’s fight being so hard on the eyes, the 33-year-old from Epsom sure looks like he would be a handful for anyone.
Billam-Smith has now logged two successful WBO title defenses. For Riakporhe, it’s back to the drawing board, and it may take him some time to secure a second world title shot.
