On the one-hundred year centennial celebrations of Selhurst Park in London, local lad Richard Riakporhe (17-1) failed to secure championship gold in front of a home crowd, as WBO champion Chris Billam-Smith (20-1) avenged the only loss on his record to date.
Due to circumstances regarding bookings, the champion could not defend his belt in his home-town of Bournemouth, instead venturing out to the lion’s den; although the affair itself was fairly scrappy and unengaging.
The more in-shape and aesthetically-athletic Riakphohre was finding success – when he threw. Outside of throwing minimal shots, he would cling onto Billam-Smith, who was throwing punches-in-bunches with pitch-perfect success.
In instances such as the ninth round, when encouraged to throw, Riakporhe would startle the champion and stagger him across the canvas, although these instances of success were few and far between as Billam-Smith would weather the storm; one of his best attributes as a fighter.
Ultimately, Billam-Smith avenged his loss in dominant style, when not tangled in the long limbs of his adversary – and seems to be eyeing up a unification with Mexican WBA champion ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (46-1) in the United States next.
Also in the cruiserweight division, former Riakporhe opponent Jack Massey (22-2) secured a dominant upset victory over Boxxer darling Issac Chamberlain (16-3) to win the Commonwealth and EBU titles. Such a dominant win is likely to boost Massey back into the cruiserweight mix, after a defeat to Kiwi heavyweight Joseph Parker (35-3) in January of 2023.
Upsets also plagued the division below as Dan Azeez (20-1-1) failed to rebound successfully after a hard-fought battle with close friend Joshua Buatsi (18-0) in February, managing to eek out a draw against unknown Croatian quantity Hrvoje Sep (12-2-1) in a high-spirited war of attrition.
Much like the weather, the tides of the conflict turned from rain to shine, with the ultimate decision being cloudy, much to the frustration of the ‘Super’ London light heavyweight.
One of the most discussed bouts of the night came by way of the showboating ‘Surgeon’ Ben Whittaker (8-0), who silenced critics with an emphatic shut-out over the rough-housing ‘African King’ Ezra Arenyeka (12-1), whose self-promotional skills far outweighed his ring-craft.
Headbutts and elbows were the only effective moves Arenyeka could land of Whittaker, who seemed to take criticism of his ‘soft-blows’ against Leon Willings (8-2) last time out to heart, delivering blistering right hands to win the IBF International Light-Heavyweight title.
The young Francesca Hennessey (4-0) took to the rainy canvas to deliver an exciting performance in her first eight rounder, shutting out Polish fighter Dorota Norek (7-5) with a sharp and disciplined performance.
Hennessey could be on her way to becoming one of the many prominent female faces of Boxxer and Sky Sports, as she seems keen on raising the level of competition fairly early on.