Isaac Chamberlain should fight Viddal Riley next, says WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith

Isaac Chamberlain should fight Viddal Riley next, says WBO cruiserweight world champion Chris Billam-Smith.

Chamberlain won the British and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles when he expertly diffused the power-punching of Mikael Lawal at York Hall on Saturday.

The performance was impressive. “I thought Isaac boxed really well there. I thought Mikael showed the lack of experience and Isaac showed his wealth of experience in the fights he’s had. I thought it was a really dominant display,” Billam-Smith told Sky Sports.

“Mikael’s got power but it doesn’t matter if you’ve got the power – you need to know how to land it and get yourself into the position to land it. Otherwise there’s no point having it. And that was the telling tale really.

“Isaac stayed cute, even in the last round. It would have been very easy to run in the last round. People run to stay safe but what he was doing was jabbing and smothering because he knows the power of Lawal is at length and it was the perfect thing to do in that last round.”

The Bournemouth boxer, who won his world championship in May, had a thrilling fight with Chamberlain last year. The result over Lawal alone however is not enough to earn Chamberlain a rematch with Billam-Smith.

He believes Chamberlain has more work to do to establish himself as a world-level contender.

“I don’t think you can show [whether you’re world level] on that fight. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful to Lawal, but he’s not the opponent to decide whether Isaac’s at world level or not,” Billam-Smith said.

“He [Chamberlain] is not far off. We had a great fight and it depends what you class as world level, whether that’s being a world champion or being able to be competitive in a world title fight.

“He’s got a lot of attributes, Isaac, but I think we’ll need to see a better opponent for him and I think he’s probably a few fights off that level.

“He needs a few more fights before [a rematch]. He’s probably ranked in the top 15 of a couple of governing bodies maybe but I think he needs more than that.”

The solution is for Chamberlain to fight Viddal Riley, a rising talent who became the English champion in his last fight.

“It depends on what he wants to do. Push on to fight for a world title soon or take the likes of a Viddal Riley fight, which is an interesting fight. It could be a bit too soon for Viddal but I believe he’s willing to test himself and I think that’s a really interesting fight,” Billam-Smith said.

“Because Viddal has a wealth of amateur experience, it’s going to put him in a better position than Lawal tonight [Saturday].

“They’re the domestic fights that people want to see on TV. I’ve been in my fair share of domestic fights now and I think that’s a really intriguing fight for the fans but also a very, very risky fight for maybe not much reward for Isaac.

“Because if he does lose the fight it’s a lad who’s only won the English and Isaac’s been above that level for a while but if he wins it, it’s ‘well Viddal wasn’t ready’.

“So you can understand why he wouldn’t want that fight. But as a fan it would be a great fight.”

But solid domestic showdowns, as well as being crowd-pleasing, help develop boxers.

“They’re the fights Viddal needs as well. They’re the ones he’s going to need if he’s going to push on to world level and European level before that. They’re the fights he’s going to need,” Billam-Smith explained.

“Isaac’s been in a lot of fights and you’d make him the favourite going into that fight. But I’d give Viddal Riley more of a chance, to be honest, than I gave Lawal, which was just a puncher’s chance.

“I’ve proven that those domestic fights are great to have and they build your profile and they’re just fun to be in. And the fans love it.

“It’s a great division to be involved in,” Billam-Smith added.

“Hopefully the cruiserweights that are about at the moment domestically all fight each other and we can build into some huge domestic world title fights.”