A man with more than a vested interest in this weekend’s Selhurst Park main event is Lawrence Okolie. He praised former gymmate Chris Billam-Smith a year on from their Bournemouth bout, but also questioned whether the WBO cruiserweight world champion can manage to go to the well again in deep waters against mandatory challenger Richard Riakporhe this weekend.
Okolie: CBS at his best will win – can he go there again?
Chris Billam-Smith (c) vs. Richard Riakporhe
WBO world cruiserweight championship
June 15 — Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace’s football stadium
- Who has evolved more since? Riakporhe (17-0, 13 KOs) scored a SD10 win at Billam-Smith’s expense when both were 9-0 pros back in July 2019
- Okolie’s CBS-Riakporhe 2 thoughts: “I think Chris should win if he’s able to get in that gear [to grit out victory after enduring another tough fight] again, but if not then I think it might be one shot too many.”
- Former European light-heavyweight champion Dan Azeez, who features on this undercard as he did five years ago, likened Riakporhe’s punching power to that of former long-reigning WBC champion Deontay Wilder: “If it doesn’t go the distance, Richard… if it does, Chris. Riakporhe’s more patient whereas Chris will be on it, but that leaves him open to get caught.”
ON the other side of the fence for once, WBC bridgerweight champion Lawrence Okolie will be watching with interest when his friend-turned-foe and a longtime local rival face off this weekend in their long-awaited rematch for cruiserweight world honours he once held. It’s been little over a year since, but how times have changed.
In an interview with BoxingScene’s Tris Dixon, Okolie expressed a belief that his former gymmate would prevail before adding a caveat by saying:
“The best version of Chris will beat the best version of Riakporhe. Lately, when I’ve been thinking about it, Chris has been to the well a few too many times. I think even in our fight, although he was able to come out with a win and got some knockdowns, it would have taken a lot more out of him than me.
Since then, you’ve seen his eye continuously [cut] open, he boxed against [Mateusz] Masternak and it seemed like Masternak was winning comfortably until Chris managed to find the two great body shots that put him out.
It kind of begs the question, is he going to be able to go to that point again, to beat a tall, strong, good puncher like Riakporhe?”
On the topic of fighter evolution, Okolie appreciates the importance more than most and found out first-hand at Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium on May 27 last year.
Although a rematch was expected before year’s end, news of Okolie’s inevitable move up in weight meant the pair went their separate ways – Richard Riakporhe will likely do too, having outlined his desire to challenge himself at heavyweight.
It wasn’t pretty but Chris Billam-Smith dug in to successfully defend world honours against Mateusz Masternak six months later and the Shane McGuigan-trained champion has vastly improved since losing a split decision over ten rounds to Richard Riakporhe in July 2019, when both were exciting domestic prospects.
In the five years since, Billam-Smith has exceeded everyone’s expectations while Riakporhe has been left frustrated by a lack of opportunities at the highest level. Now they’ll collide again, with the dynamics different and on that subject Okolie said this:
“I think it’s something I took for granted because I thought, I do this all the time, and all of a sudden it’s a different kind of atmosphere [from sparring to actually fighting CBS] and a different kind of energy and even being in there with him, he felt different.”
- Okolie was candid in assessing how things had changed between him and former gymmate CBS
He elaborated further, saying it felt like the hometown hero was boxing “out of himself” during their fight and his ability to grit out the tougher moments, rallying when the fire was at its hottest, proved decisive after an exhausting 12-round duel.
“I thought it’d be enough to break him – it would have most people – it didn’t, but I don’t know if he will be able to do that again. Masternak was another one, can he do it again? I don’t know, I’d like to see it but don’t think so.”
BOXXER’s Selhurst Park card, is as follows…
Main event: Chris Billam-Smith (c) vs. Richard Riakporhe for WBO world cruiserweight title, 12 rounds
Co-main: Isaac Chamberlain vs. Jack Massey for Commonwealth, vacant EBU European cruiserweight titles, 12 rounds
Light-heavyweight: Ben Whittaker vs. Eworitse Ezra Arenyeka for vacant IBF International title over 10 rounds
Light-heavy: Dan Azeez vs. Hrvoje Sep, 8 rounds
Women’s bantamweight: Francesca Hennessy vs. Dorota Norek, 8×2-minute rounds
Middleweight: Mitchell Frearson vs. Marco Simmonds, 8 rounds
Cruiserweight: Deevorn Miller vs. Edwin Mosquera, 6 rounds
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes hyperlinked
Mo and Sports 