Johnny Nelson, who was a former world champion and Sky Sports Boxing expert assesses Chris Billam-Smith’s unanimous decision loss to Gilberto Ramirez in unification of the WBO and WBA cruiserweight titles…
I’m disappointed. I think Ramirez did what he could. He’s a good fighter, where I thought. “Oh my god, this guy is great.” I thought it was a fight to win for Chris.
He followed him around the ring, instead of cutting, dropping a backhand, following it up with a left hook.
I thought, “use your physicality, put him down, shut him down.”
I probably gave Chris two rounds, but it was so frustrating because you could see what needed to be done and what wasn’t.
Ramirez is a good fighter, but he’s not a great fighter. He’s just not, and that sounds disrespectful. I’m disrespectful. It’s just frustrating.
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Highlights from the clash between Gilberto Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith for the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles.
Look at the first round, Chris put it, pushing him back, using his physicality, using that shot. Don’t wait, take the initiative. Ramirez has to wait and tries to clinch because he knows he’s up against a guy with a bigger punch.
And then it was like night and day. Ramirez started to turn it on, and as Chris got into a rhythm of pushing back on the back foot, Ramirez picked 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 type of fighter that if you let the shots and put pressure on this guy, you’re going to have to force him to box.
He gets a very clean shot, and he’s comfortable taking a shot and saying,
Fighting like that is madness. I’m thinking: shake your head. This was a winning fight for Chris and that’s why I’m so disappointed.
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Eddie Howe and his Newcastle players sit out the clash between Gilberto Ramires and Chris Billam-Smith in Saudi Arabia.
If you don’t want to get hit, you swipe from left to right. You learn to dodge shots. Slide shots, counter shots instead of thinking I’m going to take it and punch it.
That’s how most Eastern Europeans train. They want to wear you down by letting you punch them, and that’s the wrong way to flash when you’re up against someone with skill.
He made him work. He had the ability to beat Ramirez. It wasn’t an impossible job and you could see that right from that initial attack.
Ramirez was trying to ride and weather that little storm, but as soon as Chris took his foot off the gas, Ramirez started to get into a rhythm. So it showed that Chris could have gotten the better of his man, but he just went off the gas.
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Shane McGuigan felt Gilberto Ramirez was winning Chris Billam-Smith’s rounds with “less effort” and that was the telling factor of the fight.
What they said
Chris Billam-Smith narrated Sky Sports: “He was very skilled, I knew he was. Consistency won him tonight. He stole my mantra from me.
“As the rounds went on, I just lost that speed. He was so consistent that he was always on. I was putting good spells on him, but it was hard to keep hurting him.
“He was a very, very smart boxer. There’s a reason he only lost to (Dmitry) Bivol. It’s because he’s very, very skilled.
“You can always do more, maybe tweaks and stuff like that. But tonight, I gave it my all. But it wasn’t meant to be.”
Billam-Smith coach Shane McGuigan said Sky Sports: “He wasn’t better than we thought. A guy that was huge. He was very efficient with his moves. very consistent.
“Chris was successful in the fight by hurting him with short, sharp, quick shots and then he would always fire back. He would just walk away and win the rounds with little effort and that fight had a talking point.
“I’m so proud of the guy. We didn’t win tonight, but we played against a very good champion.”
