Clarke stops Billam-Smith in seventh to inflict first career knockdown

Chev Clarke stopped Chris Billam-Smith in the seventh round of their all-British cruiserweight headline bout at the Copper Box Arena on Saturday, the first time the former world champion has been knocked down or stopped in his professional career.

Clarke opened the seventh with a big right hand that put Billam-Smith down. The Bournemouth fighter beat the count but was dropped again moments later after a sustained barrage of punches.

The referee allowed the contest to continue, but Billam-Smith looked unsteady on his feet. When Clarke landed two further clean blows, the fight was waved off.

Billam-Smith protested the stoppage immediately, while Clarke stood in the centre of the ring and shrugged, according to BBC Boxing's account of the finish.

Promoter Dana White said afterwards that he felt the decision to stop the fight may have come a little early.

The result takes Clarke to 13 wins and two defeats, and hands Billam-Smith only his third professional loss, following previous defeats to Gilberto Ramirez in 2024 and Richard Riakporhe in 2019.

Clarke had already beaten Billam-Smith once before, in a three-round amateur contest a decade ago, and drew the parallel afterwards. "I do what champions do," he said. "I'm happy. Arsenal won and I won. My training camp was good and you saw that in the ring. I'll take all-comers going forward."

Ahead of the fight, Clarke had made clear he believed he could knock out his opponent, and dismissed the idea that he could be discounted, according to Sky Sports Boxing.

The contest started slowly, with both fighters leaning into plenty of holding, before Clarke began to look the sharper man. He landed a clean overhand right to the side of Billam-Smith's head in the second round, then followed up in the third with an uppercut and another overhand right that snapped the former champion's head back.

Billam-Smith struggled to find his rhythm for long periods, absorbing another uppercut before landing a short right hook of his own that sent Clarke stumbling back to his corner.

Before the fight, former super-middleweight world champion George Groves had tipped Billam-Smith to prevail despite rating Clarke the better pure boxer. Speaking to Sky Sports and reported by Yahoo Sports, Groves said: "Cheavon beat him as an amateur and he is a better boxer than Chris Billam-Smith. But I can't see him beating Chris Billam-Smith... Chris is a bit of a nightmare to fight. He just keeps coming, you can be clearly outboxing him but he's just going to keep coming and maybe that's not what Chev needs right now."

Groves had also noted that Billam-Smith appeared refreshed following time out of the ring after the Ramirez defeat, having since beaten Brandon Glanton and Ryan Rozicki, the latter his first win since joining the Zuffa Boxing stable.

Clarke's own route back from back-to-back defeats to Leonardo Mosquea and Viddal Riley had included a stoppage win over Anthony Hollaway and a seven-round stoppage of Jack Massey, a fight in which Clarke survived two knockdowns of his own before prevailing.

The Copper Box Arena was far from capacity, with only the lower tier of seating open to fans, though the ringside crowd included heavyweight Johnny Fisher, Traitors contestant King Kenny and strongman Eddie Hall.

In the chief support bout on the same card, Denzel Bentley won by unanimous decision in London.