WBO vacates interim title: Billam-Smith and Roman Fress are to fight each other. The winner will go head-to-head with champion Ramirez.
Chris Billam-Smith is ready to get back on the world title trail – and this could soon happen in a duel with Roman Fress. With WBO and WBA champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez out for an extended period due to shoulder surgery, the WBO has opened the door for an interim title fight.
“In view of Ramirez’s injury and recovery process, the WBO will sanction an interim title fight between the two highest ranked challengers,” explained WBO President Gustavo Olivieri. The roles are thus clearly distributed: Billam-Smith, number one in the rankings, could face the number two ranked German-Kazakh Roman Fress.
Billam-Smith (21-2, 13 knockouts), the number two in theRing Magazine cruiserweightrankings, last defeated Brandon Glanton on points in London in April. The former WBO world champion lost his belt to Ramirez in a unification fight in Riyadh in 2024. Prior to that, he had surprisingly dethroned Lawrence Okolie and successfully defended against Mateusz Masternak and Richard Riakporhe.
Now the 33-year-old Brit wants to pave the way back. “This would be a great opportunity for me to fight Roman Fress for the interim title, ideally at the end of the year,” Billam-Smith told The Ring. “It was a fight we were looking at anyway. When the number one and two fight each other, there can be no other interim solution.”
SES boxer Fress (18-1, 11 knockouts) could thus become Billam-Smith’s most important opponent on his way back to the top. For the Brit, one thing is certain: “It may not be the full world championship belt, but it is a decisive step back into the title race. My goal remains clear. I want to beat Ramirez and become WBO and WBA world champion.”
Text by Robin Josten