Johnny Nelson, a former cruiserweight world champion and Sky Sports boxing expert, appraises Chris Billam-Smith’s unanimous decision defeat to Gilberto Ramirez in their WBO and WBA cruiserweight world title unification…
I’m frustrated. I’m gutted. I think Ramirez did what he could do. He’s a good fighter but not a fighter where I thought: ‘Oh my goodness, this guy’s outstanding.’ I thought it was a winnable fight for Chris. The tactics were wrong.
He followed him around the ring instead of cutting him off, letting the back hand go, following it up with a left hook.
I thought ‘use your physicality, put it on him, close him down’. But once he let Ramirez get into a rhythm then Ramirez started to pull away.
I probably gave Chris two rounds but it was so frustrating because you could see what needs to be done and what wasn’t done.
Ramirez is a good fighter but he isn’t an outstanding fighter. He’s just not and that sounds disrespectful – I am being disrespectful. It’s just frustrating.
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Highlights from Gilberto Ramirez’s clash with Chris Billam-Smith for the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles.
Look at the first round, Chris put it on him, pushing him back, using his physicality, using that jab. Initiating the shots. Not waiting, initiating. Ramirez having to wait and trying to absorb because he knows he’s in with the bigger-punching guy.
And then it was like day and night. Ramirez started to turn it on and once Chris got into the rhythm of being pushed back on the back foot then Ramirez stepped it up and started to run away with the fight.
That’s why it was so frustrating. Because Chris is the stronger fighter. Chris is the fighter that if you let the shots go and put this guy under pressure, you’re going to have to make him box reactively.
He gets hit too clean and he’s comfortable taking a shot and saying: ‘Oh right, you give me one and I’ll give you one.’
To fight like that, it’s madness. I’m thinking – move your head. This was a winnable fight for Chris and that’s why I’m so frustrated.
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Eddie Howe and his Newcastle players sit ringside at Gilberto Ramirez’s clash with Chris Billam-Smith in Saudi Arabia.
If you don’t want to get hit, you slip left to right. You learn to avoid the shots. Slip the shots, counter off the shots, instead of thinking I’m going to take it and punch through.
A lot of the Eastern Europeans that’s how they train. They want to wear you down by letting you punch yourself out on them and that’s the wrong way to box when you come up against someone with skill.
He did make him work. He had the capability of beating Ramirez. It wasn’t an impossible job and you saw that just from that initial onslaught.
Ramirez was trying to ride and weather that little storm but as soon as Chris took his foot off the gas, Ramirez then got into a rhythm. So it showed Chris had the capability of getting the better of his man but he just stepped off the gas.
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Shane McGuigan felt Gilberto Ramirez was winning the rounds from Chris Billam-Smith with ‘less effort’ and that was the telling factor in the fight.
What they said
Chris Billam-Smith told Sky Sports: “He was very skilled, I knew he was. Consistency built success for him tonight. He stole my mantra off me.
“As the rounds went on I just lost that speed. He was so consistent, he was switched on at all times. I was having good spells, hurting him but it was hard to keep hurting him.
“He was very, very clever, a very, very smart boxer. There’s a reason he’s only lost to [Dmitry] Bivol. That’s because he’s very, very skillful.
“There’s always more you can do, maybe adjustments during camp and stuff like that. But in there tonight I left it all in there. I gave it everything. But it wasn’t to be.”
Shane McGuigan, Billam-Smith’s trainer, told Sky Sports: “He was not better than we thought. We knew what we had in front of us. A guy that was massive. I don’t know how he ever did those lighter weights. He was very efficient with his movement. Very, very consistent.
“Chris was having success in the fight, hurting him with short, sharp, fast shots and then he would always fire back. He was just chipping away and winning rounds with less effort and that there was a telling factor in the fight.
“I’m so proud of the guy. We didn’t get the victory tonight but in against a very good champion.”