CRUISERWEIGHT Jack Massey would have been more than happy to have been given the date, place, and name of the opponent, last week he got all that and more. Last week, while sitting at home on his couch, he found out more than just the details of his next fight. He found a way. The gift of his patience. A life-changing opportunity.
Indeed, when informed of Poland's Michal Cieslak's injury, Massey was offered the chance to not only fight Isaac Chamberlain on June 15 at Selhurst Park, but if he wins, return to Cheshire with the European and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles. Even better, if Massey lives up to his expectations and defeats Chamberlain, he will put himself in a position to fight the winner of the night's main event between Chris Billam-Smith and Richard Riakporhe. In other words, since you have waited so long for something to happen, now, it seems, everything it's about to happen to Jack Massey; now you have both a plan and an incentive.
“It's huge,” said Massey, 21-2 (12). Debate News. “It came at the right time; we are good and ready even though we have just over four weeks notice.
“I was hoping to come out sometime in that month (June) but this is a great opportunity and a big fight for me. There are two titles on the line, European and Commonwealth, and I will face a good fighter in the title fight for the cruiserweight world title (WBO). I have to do the work on June 15th and check with the winner of the headline fight. It worked really well.”
In terms of good timing, Massey is wrong. After all, with only two fights in two years, and his last fight, in January, lasting less than two minutes, Massey needed a big motivational fight and he needed it fast. Otherwise, there was a very real danger that the 31-year-old could start to fade from the spotlight and become an easy man to avoid for the local cruiserweights.
“It was really frustrating,” he said of his recent unemployment. “But we had to stay in it, hold ourselves back, and continue working in the gym. I wasn't going out of the gym to go wild. You have to stay focused because these things sometimes come out. You have to always be ready for them.”
Jack Massey
As for Isaac Chamberlain, the man Massey will face next month, there is obviously a lot of respect there, but also a belief that Massey can do his size, strength and power overnight. In many ways, too, this fight against Chamberlain, 16-2 (8), is one that Massey has been preparing for some time, albeit indirectly and without really knowing it. That is, the meeting of Massey and Chamberlain feels like a natural match; a fight that should have happened a long time ago.
“It's funny that we haven't met in the past,” Massey said. “Both of us have been there at the same time, both of us have fought a lot against the best domestic cruiserweight teams, but until now we have never fought against each other. He's been around a long time, like me, and it's a wonder we haven't met. He's always been one on the radar, though, because he's always been in big fights.
“He's a good fighter. He's a tough boxer, a good boxer, but it's nothing we can't deal with. We will beat him at night. I think I'm bigger, I'm stronger, I'm a better boxer, and I don't think he'll be able to handle strength and size.”
Isaac Chamberlain. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Massey's dream is to get the result he wants against Chamberlain on June 15 and then, as long as he is ready to do so, sit back and watch the big event between Billam-Smith, the man he faced as a novice. in the ABA finals, and Riakporhe, someone who beat Massey via a 12-round decision in 2019. He sees his fight, in fact, as something of a semi-final; or practice clothes. He knows that a win, especially an impressive one, could be the key to opening a challenge for the WBO cruiserweight title in the near future.
“The eyes of the boxing world will be on the cruiserweight division that night,” said Massey. “People watching will see me fighting with Chamberlain and they will see Billam-Smith and Riakporhe fighting. I hope that after that they will want to see the winner of our fight against the winner of the title fight. That would be a good fight to make next.
“It's funny how things go. Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways. Not only was it a good fight, but it was written under Billam-Smith vs. Riakporhe, which brings me a little closer to fighting the winner of that war.”
As for Massey, the winner of Billam-Smith vs. Riakporhe is not important. All he really needs is for there to be a winner and for the winner to show interest in taking him.
That said, because he is now invested in the story, and because he now has the opportunity to be involved in it, Massey is more interested in the war itself.
“It's hard to predict,” he said. “I didn't think too much about Billam-Smith's last fight (against Mateusz Masternak). I spent a few weeks defending Masternak in that fight and I wasn't very good at it and I thought Billam-Smith had been touched here; you have an easy battle. When the fight started, I thought he was losing until Masternak's body was shot in the ribs.
“Riakporhe is funny to me. He was a bit shocked. He found himself losing himself a little. He's not really as pushy as I thought. He's been very busy at times, so it's hard to call.
“Obviously, Riakporhe can punch, but I think Billam-Smith hit the nail on the head when he revealed that Riakporhe has never hit anyone cold. He keeps putting it on them and the ref stops the fight. I would agree with what Billam-Smith said there. He (Riakporhe) does not have that example of taking out someone with one shot. But there is no doubt that he punches hard and can punch. I don't think it's Deontay Wilder's kind of power that a lot of people tell you he is.”
Massey continued: “I would love to have a rematch with Riakporhe, but I would also love to get a fight with Billam-Smith. I always wanted to fight him after I fought him in the ABA finals. We've both come on leaps and bounds since then and I think it could be a good fight. Styles fight, and I think that between the two of us there would be no fighting. It would be just a good fight.”
That can wait. First, Massey must face Chamberlain, who many would argue represents Massey's best scalp – if, that is, he can protect it. “I think I'll stop him,” said Massey, sure of it. “I will catch him. He will feel the energy from round one that he will not like. He will then go back until I end the fight with a stoppage.”
Suddenly, after years in the dark, Jack Massey can see not only the future but also the light.
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