Zuffa Boxing 07 results: Chris Billam-Smith stops Ryan Rozicki in epic brawl

Chris Billam-Smith had to survive everything Ryan Rozicki could throw at him, from non-stop power punches to reckless headbutts, to score a seventh-round stoppage in Saturday’s Zuffa Boxing 07 main event. The dramatic battle thrust itself into the Fight of the Year conversation as the midway point of the year approaches.

Rozicki was relentless from the opening bell, as expected for a fighter of his style. That non-stop assault included some dirty tactics from Rozicki, who threw his head around with ill intent. In fact, it was only a minute into the second round when Rozicki, already bloodied from clean right hands landed by Billam-Smith, was deducted a point for repeated intentional headbutts.

Rozicki’s style was such that he largely did not care about defense, which allowed Billam-Smith to crack with overhand rights and a sharp uppercut that seemed to briefly have Rozicki out on his feet in the early rounds.

Rather than go down, Rozicki went right back to his same tactics of marching forward, getting in Billam-Smith’s face and winging power shots to the head and body.

Billam-Smith was doing the better work, but Rozicki continued to push forward and Billam-Smith appeared as though the pace was beginning to wear on him by the end of the fifth round.

Despite the fatigue, Billam-Smith blasted Rozicki with a non-stop assault of power shots in the sixth round, with Rozicki going as far as apparently intentionally dropping his hands and inviting Billam-Smith to continue hitting him.

Rozicki came back hard in Round 7, landing more of his big shots and continuing to absorb return fire from Billam-Smith. Unfortunately, for all the momentum Rozicki built in the round, Billam-Smith closed the frame with a flurry of heavy blows. After the bell sounded to end the round, Rozicki seemed on unsteady legs while walking to his corner.

Before the start of the eighth round, Rozicki’s corner called a halt to the bout with their fighter bleeding over both eyes and bruised on the stool.

Despite the loss, Rozicki gained something in losing the biggest fight of his career, showing unbelievable heart and an unreal ability to absorb punches from a former world champion. Zuffa Boxing will certainly be happy to see him return to the ring.

For Billam-Smith, a fight with Ring Magazine and Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia may now be within reach. Billam-Smith, a former cruiserweight world champion, has wanted that fight for some time and Opetaia’s plans to fight unified cruiserweight champion David Benavidez seem to have fallen through after the WBC ordered Benavidez to defend his title against a mandatory challenger or be stripped of the belt.