Billam-Smith Defeats Rozicki as Fight is Stopped After the Seventh Round
The brutality.
A rugged battle between cruiserweight contenders saw Chris Billam-Smith survive Canada’s murderous punching Ryan Rozicki to win by technical knockout on Saturday.
Hometown hero Billam-Smith (22-2, 14 KOs) becomes the cruiserweight championship challenger by stopping Rozicki (21-2-1, 20 KOs) at Bournemouth, England before a loud sold out crowd for the Zuffa Boxing 7 event.
If the pro-Billam-Smith crowd expected an easy victory, they immediately were disappointed as Rozicki attacked with his head down like a rabid Timber wolf with punches coming from all angles. The British fighter held for dear life early on.
Despite grabbing Rozicki in a death grip, the British fighter was never warned or penalized for holding and clinching. Instead, the Canadian fighter was deducted a point in the second round for putting his head into Billam-Smith’s face to free himself from the constant embraces.
Rozicki was in full-punishment mode and refused to stop advancing and swinging from the heels like Mickey Mantle. The redhead with tattoos did his best to mimic his hero Jack Dempsey, the heavyweight champion of the Roaring 20s. He refused to step backward and never stopped launching blows.
It was in the third round that Billam-Smith caught the hard-charging Rozicki with a right uppercut that snapped his head grotesquely backward. The Canadian, who has never been knocked down, staggered but stayed on his feet. Billam-Smith looked at him and quickly discovered Rozicki was not going anywhere and the fight resumed.
From that point on both fighters dug in and swung away.
Rozicki punched to the head and body in windmill fashion while the British fighter was more refined in his punch selection. Though Billam-Smith connected perfectly, it was not enough to deter the Canadian from continuing his attacks.
Each fighter connected and each fighter proved they could take a punch. Suddenly, the fight was a battle of wills.
Smith unloaded a vicious barrage of blows in the sixth round and, though almost all of the punches connected, Rozicki remained standing and kept punching back. The redhead’s will was not going to bend.
In the seventh round Rozicki attacked furiously. The crowd roared and Billam-Smith withstood the assault. Then with 30 second remaining, the British cruiserweight unleashed six blows that found their mark perfectly. Rozicki looked stunned but remained upright and lumbered back to his corner at the end of the round. His corner advised the referee to stop the fight.
Billam-Smith was declared the winner by technical knockout at the end of the seventh round. He now becomes the mandatory for Zuffa cruiserweight titlist Jai Opetaia.
Both fighters were immediately taken to the hospital for observation.
“He is not just a tough but a super talented fighter,” said Dana White of Billam-Smith. “He took some big shots. We sent them both to the hospital.”
Smith-Billam’s trainer Shane McGuigan said Rozicki’s style forced the match to take a brutal approach.
“I never seen a puncher like that guy,” McGuigan said. “What an incredibly tough man. He is a boogey man for a reason.”
Zuffa’s White concurred.
“This guy is like the meanest Canadian I ever met,” White said.
Co-Main Event
Cheavon Clarke (12-2, 9 KOs) survived two knockdowns by Jack Massey (23-4, 13 KOs) to rally from behind and win by knockout in a cruiserweight battle.
It wasn’t quite Archie Moore and Yvon Durelle, but Clarke’s stirring victory after falling behind against the taller Massey who had dropped Clarke twice in the fourth round was close enough.
Overhand rights proved to be the method of destruction for both cruiserweights. Massey used the right to connect on Clarke’s noggin and it didn’t look survivable. After beating the count Clarke was dropped again and somehow survived the round.
Clarke turned things around the next round with his own right hand bomb. Though unable to knockdown Massey, the punch did force him to hold on to survive. From that moment on each fighter was aware a knockout was possible.
In the seventh round Clarke fired an overhand right from in close and down went Massey. He survived the count but Clarke attacked with abandon and forced the referee to stop the fight at 1:24 of the round.
Clarke was declared the winner by technical knockout.
“I came from nothing. I’ve got put down before. Credit to Jack (Massey), a quality fighter. He is better than most of the cruiserweights. He is a quality operator,” Clarke said.
Other Bouts
Hometown fighter Lee Cutler (16-2, 8 KOs) dislocated Aaron Sutton’s (19-3, 3 KOs) shoulder from the socket to force a stoppage and win by technical knockout.
Sutton was competing well against Cutler, but during an exchange of blows in the third round, a Cutler right cross under Sutton’s shoulder caused a dislocation. Sutton’s left arm dangled and he seemed in pain. The referee halted the match, examined the fighter and then promptly called the fight over as Sutton protested vigorously. The match was ruled a technical knockout win for Cutler at 31 seconds of the third round.
“Accidents happen. Respect to him for staying in there,” said Cutler. “I’ve seen it happen in sparring.”
Ireland’s Stephen McKenna (16-1, 15 KOs) needed less than a round to annihilate America’s Casey Streeter (15-4-2) in their middleweight clash. Both came out firing, with McKenna connecting with a left hook during an exchange. Streeter wobbled around with McKenna seemingly convinced it was a knockdown, but the knee or hands of the American never touched the canvas. McKenna immediately solved that with a fierce three punch salvo that dropped Streeter. After surviving the count, Streeter found himself overrun by McKenna’s blows alongside the ropes. The referee wisely stopped the match at 1:04 of the first round. McKenna wins by TKO.
The very tall Ivan Dychko (16-1, 14 KOs) lumbered past Harvey Dykes (7-1-1) to win by split decision after 10 non-eventful rounds. Kazakhstan’s Dychoko, who stands 6’9”, scored a knockdown in the opening round that was more a slip than a punch. But after that he preferred to hold and punch from the outside with single right hands. England’s Dykes, a chunky southpaw, scored some combination blows but dared not go all out. That allowed Dychko to convince two judges he was the winner.
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