Chris Billam-Smith and Isaac Chamberlain will likely fight for the world championship title on July 30.
The Two heavy cruisers meet at Bournemouth International Centerlive on Sky Sports, giving Billam-Smith a home field advantage.
Up front are the home boxer’s European and Commonwealth titles but a shot at new IBF World champion Jai Opetaia is also a potential carrot.
Australian manager Dean Lonergan told Sky Sports boxing channel Toe2Toe that he wanted to keep making the fight go on.
“I’m not reaching out to chat, I’m reaching out to see if we can actually do some business.”
“I want to start talking now with [Boxxer CEO] Ben Shalom because they all signed him, I believe, and with Adam Smith [Head of Sky Boxing] and to have a serious conversation about whether we’re going there or you’re going to Australia and try your hand at the best weight cruiser in the world. “
Opetaia shocked the cruiser detachment when it beat number one boxer Mairis Briedis in points in Australia 12 days ago despite breaking her jaw in two places.
The 37-year-old has only ever lost to current unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk before defending his IBF title against the new kid in the group.
Billam-Smith and Chamberlain on Opetaia
An impetus Billam-Smith and Chamberlain give their opinion on Opetaia to Sky Sports starting with the current European champion
“He was a really tough fight for anyone on the team. He is the number one in the world at the moment, just because he beat the number one”.
“I think there are clearly flaws in everyone but he is really well educated, doing the basics very well. There’s nothing amazing about him, he just does the basics very, very well. “
While Chamberlain, who fought and lost reigning WBO World Champion Lawrence Okolie in 2018, said:
“[Opetaia] sports, he also has good hand speed, but he was up against an aging Briedis, so it’s hard to really judge that performance. “
