Chris Billam-Smith Risks His Comeback Against Chev Clarke

Their 12-round cruiserweight bout will headline Zuffa Boxing 12 at London’s Copper Box Arena. Billam-Smith (22-2, 14 KOs) brings the world title experience. Clarke (12-2, 9 KOs) brings the amateur wins and the confidence of a fighter who has already beaten him twice.

Billam-Smith tends to make fights physical. He leans on opponents, works along the ropes and keeps punching when the exchanges get ugly. That served him in June against Ryan Rozicki, who did not come out for the eighth round after a punishing fight. Clarke’s win over Jack Massey on the same Bournemouth card showed a different kind of danger. Dropped twice in the fourth, Clarke recovered and stopped Massey in the seventh.

Billam-Smith cannot assume that crowding Clarke will make him safe. Clarke can fire short counters in those exchanges, and he showed against Massey that hurting him does not necessarily finish the job. But the knockdowns also give Billam-Smith an obvious target. If Massey could catch Clarke cleanly twice in one round, Billam-Smith has reason to test his chin early.