Mateusz Masternak ‘motivated’ for title shot against Chris Billam-Smith after 17-year career

Perennial cruiserweight contender Mateusz Masternak will challenge Chris Billam-Smith for the WBO title at the Bournemouth International Center, Bournemouth, England on Sunday.

Masternak, rated at No. 9 by The Ring at cruiserweight, is excited to finally get his first world title shot having turned professional back in 2006.

“I’ve been waiting for my title shot for so long, so now I’m extremely motivated and ready to go,” Masternak (47-5, 31 knockouts) told The Ring through Michał Koper. “When I turned pro I thought it would take like 5 years to get a title shot. I took 17 years, but I really feel like I’m in my prime. I feel fantastic. I know, that English fans might think I’m past my prime, over the hill, but on December 10 I’ll do my best to prove them wrong.”

The Polish fighter, who has been working with both Piotr Wilczewski and Andrzej Gmitruk, has done his homework and says he enters the contest well prepared.

“He’s a pretty good, solid fighter,” Masternak said of the defending titleholder. “He’s tall, but at the same time he fights good inside. He’s a bit taller than me, but boxing is not about height, it’s all about skills, speed, power.

“I studied his fights and noticed some little flaws in his game, but I really expect a tough fight here. If it’s easier than we expect, it will be a nice surprise.”

The 36-year-old veteran is a former European champion but has had to bide his time on the world stage.

It looked like that opportunity may come against Ring and IBF titlist Jai Opetaia, only for negotiations to hit a stumbling block that instead lead them towards Billam-Smith.

“When I won the IBF eliminator, I thought the title fight would come quick,” he explained.  “But we waited, and tried to negotiate with Opetaia’s team. Finally, we concluded there’s no way to reach an agreement. Just look what happened with [Richard] Riakporhe later – the same story. [Mairis] Briedis’ team also has some issues with Opetaia. We wasted a lot of time and we eventually chose Billam-Smith.

“We waited for the date from Boxxer for the Billam-Smith fight, but I’ve been training all the time. I train literally every day. If you look at the history of boxing, Sugar Ray Leonard fought Marvin Hagler after a three-year lay off and still won the fight. Of course, he’d been preparing for that fight for a year, but I also have been training all the time, so I don’t expect any ring rust.”

However, he freely admits it’s not ideal having to face the popular Brit in his backyard but doesn’t believe that will affect him or the result.

“Obviously, it would be better to have the home advantage here, but the ring is the same all over the world,” he said. “I’m not going to think too much about things that are out of my control. It is what it is – we box in England and I want this belt! This is what I focus on.

“I respect Chris, but I’m going to bring the WBO belt back to Poland – this is my goal!”

Billam-Smith (18-1, 12 KOs), rated at No. 5 by The Ring at cruiserweight, won his first nine fights before tasting defeat against compatriot Richard Riakporhe (SD 10). The Englishman rebounded strongly, collecting the Commonwealth title before claiming the British and European titles by beating Tommy McCarthy (SD 12). Due to the closeness of the first fight, they met in a rematch and Billam-Smith left no doubt, stopping McCarthy in eight rounds. He followed that by defeating Isaac Chamberlain (UD 12) and then vacated the EBU title rather than go over old ground against Dylan Bregeon, who he had already defeated via lopsided decision.

The popular 33-year-old vanquished Armend Xhoxhaj (KO 5) before thrilling his home fans claiming the WBO title by beating Lawrence Okolie (MD 12) in an ugly fight.

The momentum is with Billam-Smith: He has home advantage and is coming off the title win, while Masternak hasn’t fought in 14 months. I think those things will each play a part that will lead Billam-Smith to claim a 12-round unanimous decision.

 

Billam Smith-Masternak, plus supporting undercard, which takes place on Sky Sports, begins at 6 p.m. GMT and on Peacock in the U.S. at 1 p.m. ET/ 10 a.m. PT.

 

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