His focus remains on cruiserweight titles, familiar territory for him, even if not every meaningful fight is available at 200 pounds.
One of the names that keeps coming up is Deontay Wilder.
Billam-Smith doesn’t envision it as a department change or a career pivot. He talks about it as a specific fight. He has openly stated that heavyweight as a division does not suit him, and that view has not changed. Wilder, possibly at bridgeweight, is treated as the exception rather than the rule.
“I don’t think my style suits heavyweight,” Billam-Smith said Toe2Toe podcast. “But I would love that fight.”
He pointed to his past against punchers and fighters who rely heavily on a single power shot. According to him, those matches often played to his strengths rather than exposing weaknesses.
“When I boxed punchers with a big right hand, I did well,” he said. “Stylistically, it would be good for me.”
He also made it clear that this thinking does not extend to the division as a whole. Billam-Smith mentioned only two scenarios that would pull him out of cruiserweight.
The first involves Lawrence Okolie. Billam-Smith remains the only man to beat him as a professional. If Okolie were to win a heavyweight title, that result would have renewed relevance, and a rematch would come with an obvious narrative.
The second is Wilder. A known risk, a known name and a fight that continues to attract attention despite Wilder’s recent setbacks.
For now, Billam-Smith’s focus remains at cruiserweight, where Noel Mikaelian holds the WBC title. It’s the belt he’s targeting next, and it represents a direct step back to the title picture.
However, the division may not remain simple for long.
David Benavidez is expected to move up from light heavyweight and challenge Ramirez for the WBA and WBO titles. If that fight happens, it immediately reshapes the top of the weight class, and Billam-Smith will be watching closely.
“We want him to beat Zurdo, and we want to fight him,” Billam-Smith said. “That’s my view. That’s the team’s view.”
The reasoning is practical. If Benavidez beats Ramirez, he becomes a champion and also the man who beat the fighter who captured Billam-Smith’s title. That link still carries weight in boxing, even when left unexplained.
Billam-Smith sees the fight as close.
“I make Zurdo the favorite,” he said. “But it’s close. Very close. Benavidez has the style to beat him. Zurdo is very smart.”
He didn’t put it on.
“What a name,” he said. “What a fight.”
Big names still matter to him, as do the stages that go with them. Las Vegas remains part of the ambition rather than a box already ticked.
“If I can go to Vegas, even better,” he said. “That dream is still there.”
Above all sits Jai Opetaia, the IBF champion, and Billam-Smith has already mapped out how he wants to get there.
Mikaelian first. Then Benavidez. Then Opetaia. Three battles, moving in sequence, each building to the next.
That route would give him titles, leverage and control. This would put him in an Opetaia battle with something to bargain with rather than just hope.
“In an ideal world, that would be the route,” he said.
He didn’t pretend that boxing usually allows for ideal routes. He knows plans change quickly. But the direction is clear. He picks his shots, aware that the window won’t stay open forever.
