Chris Billam-Smith eyes 'special' fight with Canelo Alvarez

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Billam-Smith eyes ‘special’ fight with Canelo Alvarez as the Mexican superstar ponders a move to cruiserweight… with the Brit vowing to ‘do a number on him’ if he gets his shot at the pound-for-pound great

• Chris Billam-Smith beat Lawrence Okolie to become world champion last month
• He’s now looking ahead to future fights, and wants to take on Canelo Alvarez 
• Canelo may come up to cruiserweight, and Billam-Smith thinks he can beat him

Chris Billam-Smith could be forgiven for having reservations about what comes next. After all, once you reach the top of the mountain, the only way is down.

But that’s not how he sees things at all. The newly-crowned WBO cruiserweight champion wants to keep testing himself against the best, and now has his sights set on pound-for-pound star Canelo Alvarez. And it may not be a pipe dream.

Canelo is currently pondering his next move after beating Britain’s John Ryder to retain his super-middleweight world titles last month in a homecoming bout in Guadalajara.

The 32-year-old was expected to pursue a rematch with light-heavyweight world titlist Dmitry Bivol after losing to the Russian last year, but negotiations have failed to progress and he could seek a different challenge instead.

Amer Abdullah, the head of Saudi Arabia-based Skills Challenge Entertainment, has revealed talks have taken place for Canelo to face Badou Jack, who he represents, with the Mexican tempted by the prospect of chasing a title in a fifth different weight class.

Chris Billam-Smith was crowned WBO cruiserweight champion last month in Bournemouth

He is now eyeing a fight against Canelo Alvarez, who beat Britain’s John Ryder (left) in his homeland of Mexico at the start of May

Canelo could fight Badou Jack (right) next, and Billam-Smith hopes the Mexican stays at cruiserweight afterwards so they can have a unification clash

With discussions reportedly heading in the right direction, moving up to the 200lb division now looks like a realistic option for Canelo, and having previously held multiple belts in three divisions, there is a possibility he could choose to stick around at cruiserweight to unify.

Billam-Smith thinks Canelo is targeting Jack for a reason, but hopes he chooses to stay at cruiserweight if he emerges victorious so that he can get his shot at a modern-day great.

‘He’s targeted the smaller cruiserweights, which is fair enough because if you’re coming up from middleweight and super-middleweight, and falling short at light-heavyweight, then it’s understandable,’ Billam-Smith told Mail Sport.

‘I’m not a small cruiserweight. I’m not the biggest, but I’m still a big cruiserweight, strong and powerful as well. 

‘He was obviously targeting (Ilunga) Makabu, then Makabu got beat by Badou Jack, and Jack has come up from super-middleweight and light-heavyweight so that makes sense. But if he beats Badou Jack then fantastic, let’s unify.’

Canelo has a flawless record against Brits, having won nine straight contests against fighters from these shores.

That is not a concern for Billam-Smith, though, fresh off the back of the biggest win of his career against domestic rival Lawrence Okolie to capture the WBO title.

He has revealed that Canelo told him when they came face-to-face in January 2021 that he wanted to go up to cruiserweight at some point. Billam-Smith hopes Canelo is true to his word, and is extremely confident he’d have the beating of him either on home soil or in the US.

‘He may want to come over here but I also want to fight in Vegas. For me, that’s probably my next dream, so we’ll see. But it is a possibility which sounds crazy to a lot of people,’ Billam-Smith added.

Billam-Smith claims Canelo told him and his trainer Shane McGuigan that he wanted to move up to cruiserweight

Winning a world title at cruiserweight would make Canelo a five-division world champion, but Billam-Smith believes he has the beating of the pound-for-pound great

‘We met him when Luke Campbell fought Ryan Garcia. The day after we were at breakfast and he was down and came and chatted, and Shane (McGuigan) said “He’s a cruiserweight, you could come up to cruiserweight one day”. And he was like “I’d love to”. 

‘And here we are now sitting at the top of the tree of the cruiserweight division and him talking about fighting at cruiserweight. So we’ll see, but it would be a special occasion for sure. 

‘Obviously, he’s an absolute Hall of Famer already, so it would be an honour to share the ring with him, but I’d absolutely do a number on him as well.’

For now, Billam-Smith must wait to see which route Canelo decides to take, and he has his own career to think about.

His win against Okolie in front of 15,000 fans in his hometown of Bournemouth was a dream come true and he’s admitted he is unlikely to top that night. But that doesn’t mean that more big nights aren’t on the horizon.

Okolie could trigger his rematch clause, and Billam-Smith would welcome a return bout with his former stablemate.

However, their first clash was a scrappy affair, with Okolie docked two points for excessive holding. Billam-Smith is aware that fans may not be too keen to see the pair meet again, and he considers a different rematch as a more appealing fight.

The 32-year-old’s only professional defeat came in July 2019 when he was beaten on a split-decision by fellow Brit Richard Riakporhe.

Billam-Smith beat Lawrence Okolie (right) to win his world title, but the fight was a scrappy one, and he is unsure whether fans want to see it again

Billam-Smith believes a rematch against Richard Riakporhe (above), the only man to beat him as a professional, would be a bigger fight

Riakporhe is closing in on world honours himself, and Billam-Smith is excited by the prospect of avenging his sole career loss.

‘If the Lawrence rematch happens then so be it. But it would be a hard sell because of the way he fights, and he’s been beat now,’ Billam-Smith acknowledged.

‘Richard Riakporhe, it would be brilliant if he can win a world title and we can unify. I think that would be a fantastic fight. He’s a good guy really but he likes to talk a lot and we’ve spoke a lot over the years since the first fight and he knows how dangerous the fight is for him. 

‘I think now it’s about him getting a world title and us unifying against each other. I think that would be the biggest fight that I could possibly have in the near future. Let’s hope we can get that one over the line.’

Lorton Entertainment’s “STABLE”, a four-part documentary series covering Shane McGuigan’s work with his fighters, will be released this Autumn.

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