Chris Billam-Smith is targeting Gilberto Ramirez and Jai Opetaia for his next two fights

Chris Billam-Smith's fight is reaching the “remember” stage according to the WBO cruiserweight champion.

On Saturday night the 33-year-old retained his title to level the score at 1-1 in his rivalry with Richard Riakporhe five years ago since they first met.

Billam-Smith's second defense was another big event away at Selhurst Park, home of Riakporhe's favorite football club Crystal Palace. The champion defied the odds even though he gave a brilliant performance against his tough opponent.

With almost seven years as a military veteran under his belt in a career that has seen his share of tough and tough battles Billam-Smith wants an even bigger night to look back on.

“For me now it's about making memories and looking back on a job I really enjoyed,” he said Debate News yesterday (June 16).

“Everybody wants to fight in America and my next few fights, if I had a magic wand, it would be “Zurdo” [Ramirez] In America again [Jai] Opetaia anywhere. That would be amazing. Zurdo is by no means an easy fight. A very skilled fighter. Only lost [Dmitry] Bivol. He had a good win against us [Arsen Goulamirian] but obviously Stateside.

“When you're young you want to fight on your team's football field and you get that and it's someone else's football field. And where do you go from there? Dream big dreams like I learned from the movie 'Sing'. That's it for me. I just want to make memories. Fighting over there and then Opetaia would be great.”

Elsewhere in the cruiserweight division, Gilberto Ramirez holds the WBA title, Opetaia is the IBF champion and Noel Mikaelian holds the WBC belt.