Richard Riakporhe still believes that Chris Billam-Smith is losing weight before the world title repeat.

RICHARD RIAKPORHE still believes Chris Billam-Smith is showing signs of deterioration ahead of their return on Saturday night (June 15).

The Britons will meet at Selhurst Park – home of Crystal Palace Football Club – who hold Billam-Smith's WBO cruiserweight title. Five years ago it was Riakpore who won the title in a 10-round non-title fight defeating Billam-Smith by split decision.

Twelve-round bouts are a different beast, however, and the fighter himself is a very different proposition to what he was in 2019. Since then Billam-Smith, 19-1 (13 KOs), has won 10 of 10 including that milestone. victory over Lawrence Okolie to win the WBO title 13 months ago.

Billam-Smith's fighting style may start off poised and controlled but it usually doesn't take long for the 33-year-old to engage in a battle of will, determination and grit. When those unteachable qualities got him over the line he needed to catch the explosive charge coming the other way to win. Some believe that the money he took will hurt him and there are signs that he may be on a slide. Something Saturday night's title contender agrees with.

Speaking at today's final press conference Riakporhe, 17-0 (13 KOs), said, “To be honest I have never seen Chris. I've been to his fights but I've been watching more as a boxing fan. And sometimes I will go and see ideas about his performance. To say the least it's not really good, many people have talked about his decline.

“That's when I thought I'd see what all this nonsense is about. When I watch the fights back from the technical analysis I see a lot of gaps. It is normal to get old. “When you take a lot of pictures and you're gifted with a chin like CBS, it's a science, you can't avoid it – you can't stay in our time forever.”

Billam-Smith dismissed the very idea that it was declining.

“My response to his decline is that he is optimistic and that is what he is expecting. Nothing is slowing down and you will see that on Saturday night,” he replied.

Although the decline of 'The Gentleman' is not a proven fact one thing that cannot be denied is the difference in experience between the two. The champion is defending his world title for the second time and hosted his own stadium match – at Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium last year – as well as indoor events in his hometown.

The champion is fit and strapped but rejects any claims that he is on the wane. Photo: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer

Billam-Smith is well aware of this and spoke about the matter when asked by broadcaster Andy Scott earlier today.

“All the experience of world championship fights that I've had… the camps, being in those big games, talking about all those games, [I’ll] use that experience and go in and do it. Experience is everything before going to that arena fight where luckily I headlined the shows at home and had a big event which was a lot of fun when I got to fight that arena.”

South Londoner Riakporhe will be a home favorite on Saturday night with the lion's share of support at the home of his football club – Crystal Palace. It's a completely new experience but he's enjoying it.

“I'm very happy,” she said.

“I've been waiting for this opportunity for a long time and I'm just hungry. I am ready to challenge and take this title and challenge for other titles.”