Clarke breaks Billam-Smith down in the seventh
Chev Clarke handed Chris Billam-Smith the first stoppage defeat of his professional career on Saturday, winning their all-British non-title cruiserweight bout at London's Copper Box arena. The Londoner landed a heavy right hand early in the seventh round; Billam-Smith rose from the count but went down again shortly afterwards under a flurry of punches. The referee let the action resume, yet the Bournemouth fighter's legs looked unsteady, and when Clarke connected twice more the official waved it off.[S1][S2][S3][S6]
Billam-Smith protested the stoppage at once, while Clarke stood in the centre of the ring shrugging. The outcome lifts Clarke's record to 13 victories against two losses and adds a third professional defeat to Billam-Smith's ledger, following losses to Gilberto Ramirez in 2024 and Richard Riakporhe in 2019. The two men had also met a decade earlier in the amateur ranks, where Clarke came out on top.[S1][S7]
A sharper Clarke lands the cleaner work
The opening round was slow and marked by frequent clinching, but Clarke soon looked the more precise operator against the former world champion. In the second he caught Billam-Smith on the side of the head with a big overhand right, and in the third he connected with a heavy uppercut and another overhand right that jolted his opponent's head back. Billam-Smith, unable to settle into a rhythm, absorbed a further uppercut before answering with a short right hook that sent Clarke stumbling back towards his corner.[S1]
The seventh proved decisive. Clarke scored two quick knockdowns in the round before the referee intervened, and the stoppage drew immediate complaint from Billam-Smith. Fight promoter Dana White said afterwards that he thought the decision to end the bout may have come a little early. Ringside spectators included heavyweight Johnny Fisher, Traitors personality King Kenny and strongman Eddie Hall, watching from a Copper Box arena that was only partly filled, with just the lower tier open to fans.[S1]
Bentley outpoints a bloodied Mosley Jr
In the main support bout, Britain's Denzel Bentley outclassed a bloodied and resilient Shane Mosley Jr, taking a unanimous points decision after 10 rounds. Bentley scored a knockdown in the second, landing a straight right that made Mosley stagger before another right hand put him on the canvas. Mosley survived the count and the remainder of the round, but Bentley kept tagging him, worked sharply off the back foot and opened a cut over Mosley's right eye in the fifth.[S1]
The scorecards read 96-94, 96-93 and 95-94 in Bentley's favour. The 31-year-old then pointed at Conor Benn in the audience, hinting at a possible future meeting between the pair. Bentley had been stripped of his WBO middleweight title in late October after agreeing to face Mosley rather than his mandatory challenger; his interim belt had earlier been elevated to a full world championship following Janibek Alimkhanuly's move up to super-middleweight.[S1]
