Chris Billam-Smith to headline first Zuffa Boxing event in England

The first Zuffa Boxing-branded event to take place outside of the Meta APEX in Las Vegas is now set. Chris Billam-Smith and Ryan Rozicki will headline Zuffa Boxing 07 from Bournemouth International Centre in Bournemouth, England on June 6.

The cruiserweight bout could set up a future opponent for Jai Opetaia, who won the inaugural Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight championship with a dominant win over Brandon Glanton at Zuffa Boxing 04. Opetaia, generally considered the best cruiserweight on the planet, lost his IBF championship as a result of participating in that Zuffa title bout.

Billam-Smith is a former WBO cruiserweight champion, having won the title from Lawrence Okolie by majority decision in 2023. Billam-Smith would go on to successfully defend the title against Mateusz Masternak and Richard Riakporhe before dropping the belt to Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramírez in November 2024.

Since losing the title, Billam-Smith has only fought once, taking a decision victory over Glanton in April 2025.

After signing with Zuffa Boxing, Billam-Smith told Boxing Scene that a chance to fight Opetaia was one of the main things that attracted him to the young promotion.

“For me, it’s about fighting the best, and obviously everyone sees Jai Opetaia as the best, and that’s what I want to do, I want to prove that that’s where I belong,” Billam-Smith said. “I think if my career had ended and I’d not boxed Jai Opetaia, I’d be very annoyed and always feel like there was something left, and there’s probably those sort of things that people and fighters come back out of retirement because they feel like there’s stuff left on the table. But I feel like with this deal, there won’t be that.”

Rozicki is a recent Zuffa Boxing signing. At 20-1-1, Rozicki has only stumbled in the biggest fights of his career, including losing the inaugural WBC bridgerweight title fight to Oscar Rivas in 2021.

Two fights after the loss to Rivas, Rozicki fought for a tertiary WBC cruiserweight belt, winning a split decision over Yamil Peralta, only for a Peralta complaint regarding the judging to result in the title remaining vacant. Over two years later, Rozicki rematched Peralta, this time with the WBC interim cruiserweight on the title. Once again, Rozicki would fail to pick up gold as the fight ended in a majority draw.

Outside of the fights with Rivas and Peralta, every other bout in Rozicki’s career has ended with him winning by knockout.