Chris Billam-Smith wins furious five-round battle with Armend Xhoxhaj; Billam-Smith landed a knockout blow of frightening power to stop Xhoxhaj; Billam-Smith calls for world title fight next; His message for Jai Opetaia: "He beat the man, so now it's my turn to beat the man!"
Sunday 18 December 2022 11:04, UK
Chris Billam-Smith repelled a tough and determined challenge from Armend Xhoxhaj to win in five rounds in Bournemouth.
The night was wild, the fight was ferocious, but eventually Chris Billam-Smith found a frightening knockout blow to halt the fiery Armend Xhoxhaj in Bournemouth.
The home crowd at the Bournemouth International Centre raised a deafening roar, furiously booing Xhoxhaj and reaching a new pitch of delirium to welcome in their hero Billam-Smith.
But the Kosovan, who's based in Germany, wasn't intimidated. Rather he seemed to feed off it. In the first round he barrelled onto the front foot. Shorter, stockier, Xhoxhaj unleashed hooks with both hands.
The right landed with stinging power and Xhoxhaj burrowed his way on to the inside, working with intensity.
Xhoxhaj had success in the second round. His right powered through. He threw it with a smack into Billam-Smith's head. Unsettled for a moment, Billam-Smith had to smile.
"He buzzed me momentarily, sort of more annoyed with myself than hurt," Billam-Smith said afterwards. "I shouldn't be getting caught with shots like that, especially as I know that was the shot coming."
In the third Billam-Smith chose his own punches wisely. He brought his jab in and then dug to the body with effect. A long right hook hit Xhoxhaj's trunk. Heartened, Billam-Smith screwed his left hook into the body.
These hits began to make Xhoxhaj pause for thought.
The Briton tagged him with wide right hooks in the fourth round, injecting further power into own attacks and starting to work with more control himself.
Then in the fifth round Billam-Smith ended the battle with astonishing force. He lashed his left hook across, shaking up Xhoxhaj and leaving him open for a huge finishing blow. The shot, a tremendous right sweeping up, collided with such power that Xhoxhaj was flung back, falling to crash down to the canvas.
He had to be tended to immediately and the celebrations paused for a moment until eventually Xhoxhaj could rise and be applauded by the crowd.
"It was exactly what I thought it was going to be," Billam-Smith said.
"I wasn't switched on enough at the beginning and got caught with a few silly shots, but I got the job done, adapted, listened to the corner.
"Shane [McGuigan, his trainer] was saying sit down a little bit more, I started doing that, walked him onto a few shots and obviously hurt him and thankfully he's OK."
With that emphatic statement victory, Billam-Smith can demand a world title fight.
He's gunning for Jai Opetaia, the IBF cruiserweight champion who's widely regarded as the top fighter in the division.
"Jai Opetaia's a great champion," Billam-Smith said, "He beat the man, so now it's my turn to beat the man."
That's the fight that promoter Ben Shalom wants to make.
"We'll be back in the summer at the stadium," Shalom promised. "All the world champions want to fight in the UK and we're going to see it.
"Jai Opetaia wants this fight, Chris Billam-Smith wants this fight.
"He's going to fight for a world title in Bournemouth and it's going to be unbelievable."
