Cheavon Clarke Shocks Chris Billam-Smith with Stunning Knockout
Cheavon Clarke ripped up the script at the Copper Box Arena, stopping Chris Billam-Smith in brutal, career-altering fashion and announcing himself as a serious force in the cruiserweight division.
Under the lights in east London, the underdog tag never seemed to fit. Not to Clarke. Not for a second.
He floored the former world champion twice in the seventh round, the first knockdowns of Billam-Smith’s professional career, and forced referee Lee Every to step in as the Bournemouth man sagged on the ropes, protesting with a weary shake of the head while Clarke’s right hooks were still flying.
The stoppage handed Billam-Smith the first inside-distance defeat of his career. It also handed Clarke exactly what he came for: a marquee scalp, the kind of win that drags a contender out of the pack and into the title conversation.
A decade-old score, same winner
This was not just another main event. It was a rerun of a rivalry that stretches back 10 years.
In the amateurs, Clarke beat Billam-Smith in a pivotal national championship final, a result that stung the Bournemouth fighter and helped shape his journey from nearly man in the vest to elite professional and world champion. Ten years on, with Billam-Smith the established name and Clarke the supposed risk-not-reward opponent, the roles looked reversed.
The outcome did not.
Once again, Clarke walked away with the win. Once again, Billam-Smith walked away with a bitter taste.
Fast start, heavy leather
From the opening bell, the pace crackled.
Both men worked at a frenetic clip in the first round. Clarke, brimming with energy, slung overhand shots that carried menace as well as ambition. His head movement was raw at times, his attacks occasionally wild, but one right hand over the top forced Billam-Smith to pause and reset.
Clarke caught him with a sharp left hook as the former champion barrelled forward, then rolled under a hook and slid away, threading his right hand around the guard. Billam-Smith absorbed another right, then answered with a solid backhand uppercut, a reminder of his own power and resilience.
They clinched, wrestled, and ripped shots at close quarters. A right hand from Billam-Smith drew a hold from Clarke, who then answered with a crisp right to the jaw. Billam-Smith, renowned for his toughness, simply took it and marched on.
The third round saw Clarke’s accuracy rise. He drove a superb right uppercut between Billam-Smith’s elbows, snapped his head with a left hook, and stretched out a long cross that found its target. When they tangled in a clinch, Clarke whipped a left hook over the top. Billam-Smith responded in kind, bulling forward and turning the contest into the kind of physical, bruising fight he usually relishes, finishing the fourth round swinging hooks.
Momentum swings – then the bomb lands
Early in the fifth, Clarke went hunting. The pair traded heavy shots, each man biting down and trusting his chin. The constant clinching began to irritate both, breaking up the rhythm and turning moments of promise into scrappy exchanges.
Clarke stabbed out a clean jab, but Billam-Smith kept grinding onto the front foot, determined to impose his will.
By the sixth, the Bournemouth fighter’s power began to tell. He thudded in with heavy blows, forcing Clarke to exhale, step back and briefly lose the shape of his boxing. For the first time, it felt like the tide might be turning towards the former champion, who has built a career on breaking opponents down late.
Then the seventh arrived, and with it, the punch that changed everything.
Clarke detonated a right hand that sent Billam-Smith crashing to the canvas, a stunning sight given the granite reputation of the man on the floor. The ex-champion dragged himself upright, but his legs betrayed the damage.
Clarke did not hesitate. He swarmed.
As Billam-Smith tried to slide off the ropes, Clarke hunted him down and dropped him again. The Bournemouth man once more forced himself up, determined to continue, but the punishment was mounting and Clarke was relentless.
Pinned on the ropes under another burst of right hooks, Billam-Smith’s leg dipped and stuttered. He had his feet under him, but the accumulation and the danger were clear enough for referee Lee Every, who stepped in to halt it as Billam-Smith shook his head in protest.
Clarke roared. The underdog label, he insisted, never belonged to him.
Respect, regret, and unfinished business?
Billam-Smith, ever honest, faced it head on.
"I'm fine. It was a good shot. He buzzed me, obviously," he said. "It was a great shot. I made a mistake, but I felt like I was winning the fight.
"Fair play to Chev. We've had three fights now and he's got them all. I'd love to run it back and get him eventually."
Clarke, beaming and defiant, dismissed the notion that he had upset the odds.
"Underdog to who? Not us! I don't care about a label. I'm Chev Clarke and that's all that matters."
On a night when he needed a statement, he delivered something bigger: a stoppage of a former world champion, two knockdowns that no one had ever managed before, and a performance that forces every name at cruiserweight to take notice.
If this was Clarke’s arrival at the top table, the only real question now is how long he plans on staying there.
