Chris Billam-Smith could well benefit from Oleksandr Usyk’s plan to return to the cruiserweight division. Usyk was an undisputed world champion at cruiserweight before he repeated that feat twice over at heavyweight, beating Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois among others. But the great Ukrainian's team has revealed that he is now considering returning to cruiserweight before the end of his career.
It's a move the Billam-Smith, the former WBO cruiserweight world champion, welcomes. "Probably it's fair to say it knocks me down a spot in the world rankings!" he told Sky Sports. "But it's also great for the division, a huge name for the division that really probably has been the face of boxing, definitely in terms of achievement." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Usyk would be expected to target formidable cruiserweight champion David Benavidez, the current WBA and WBO titlist.
If Benavidez does box Usyk, it means he won't be fighting Jai Opetaia, another elite cruiserweight, next. Opetaia would still most likely return to cruiserweight after his December clash with Deontay Wilder but then he will be looking for an opponent himself. That would be Billam-Smith's opportunity.
He is still gunning for that fight. "That definitely seems more doable now," he said. "I'm happy about that, because I think Benavidez would beat him and I always wanted to be the first man to beat Opetaia." If Usyk wanted to re-accustom himself to boxing at cruiserweight before fighting Benavidez he could do worse than selecting a strong, come-forward, former world champion like Billam-Smith in an interim bout.
But Billam-Smith would expect Usyk to go straight into a fight with Benavidez, even though the Ukrainian hasn't fought since beating Rico Verhoeven in May. "I think the level he's been and the level he's at in terms of marketable fights, I think he'd go straight into a Benavidez fight, especially at his age now," Billam-Smith said, before adding with a laugh: "I think taking interim fight, especially dangerous ones, against me, he doesn't need to be doing." But Billam-Smith can dare to dream. On Saturday, live on Sky Sports, he fights Cheavon Clarke.
Win that and it could be Opetaia next. Win that and he'd be right at the summit of the division. Then why couldn't an Usyk fight happen?
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