Chris Billam-Smith vs. Mateusz Masternak & Lee Cutler vs. Kingsley Egbunike Round by Round.

True but he broke out and bent those iron bars with his bare hands and Brit strength, Noel

 

Round 1 Billam-Smith 10-9
Round 2 Masternak 10-9
Round 3 Masternak 10-9
Round 4 Masternak 10-9
Round 5 Masternak 10-9

CBS comes out with damage piling up around his left eye. his mouth agape, already looking like a spent force. The whole round consists of him, carelessly bounding forward, eating a nasty one two, and Masternak grabbing and holding. CBS not looking good at all, he's looking a little woozy and not reacting well to all of the clean rights.

 

Round 1 Billam-Smith 10-9
Round 2 Masternak 10-9
Round 3 Masternak 10-9
Round 4 Masternak 10-9
Round 5 Masternak 10-9
Round 6 Billam-Smith 10-9

A bit of a steadying the ship round for CBS, while Masternak manages to hammer him with two eye catching one twos, it was CBS that was the more consistent of the two, constantly pressing forward and peppering him with a ton of pretty heavy jabs, occasionally following up by whipping in a right hook, some landing, some glancing. CBS also responds back from a later Masternak one two, with one of his own.

 

I thought Billamsy would win on points but I knew it would be a very tough outing for him, not that tough mind, and that Masternak stood a good chance of winning too.

I thought Billamsy might possibly get a late stoppage due to Masternak being shopworn after a long hard career and catching him at the right time but when you think about it Billamsy is at a very high risk of being shopworn given all the wars he's been in and the amount of punishment he's taken.

 

Round 1 Billam-Smith 10-9
Round 2 Masternak 10-9
Round 3 Masternak 10-9
Round 4 Masternak 10-9
Round 5 Masternak 10-9
Round 6 Billam-Smith 10-9
Round 7 Billam-Smith 10-9

CBS lunging forward carelessly, walking into one twos, a bit sloppy from both of them, Masternak's one twos aren't quite as sharp as they were. They're more of the clubbing variety, almost turning into hooks at times. A lot of holding and roughhousing, CBS might be getting a slight foothold now, getting in a lot more work to the body late, manages to pin Masternak on the ropes, and cracks him with a series of hooks. Masternak is starting to feel the pace.

Masternak's corner pulls him out due to a rib injury.

Billam-Smith wins by RTD.

 

Same... even though I picked CBS via UD, I knew he'd struggle mightily, but I figure he'd bank maybe one or two early round and then take over in the second half, and do just enough to win it in the eyes of the generous British judges. Which is pretty much what was happening. Although I came damned close to picking Masternak for the upset, I didn't have faith in his gas tank, with gruelling pace that Chris usually sets. Also, like you, I figured there'd be a chance he could fade so badly down the stretch, that Chris could get the stoppage.

 

Masternak was a bad style match up for him too. He's got good feet, is tricky and sneaky, and has a bit of an off rhythm and then ties you up and smothers when you get in close or are about to throw. I didn't factor any of this in before I made my pick or refresh my memory by watching footage of him. I just went with my gut-feeling which is what I usually do.

That being said, at least 40% of my gut was arguing a case for Masternak because he's very tough and is much better than Chamberlain and McCarthy and others who's given Billamsy really tough and close fights.

It would've been interesting to see how it would've unfolded down the stretch had Masternak not suffered the rib injury. It looked very like a stoppage win might have been on the cards for Masternak if kept landing clean as often as he was. But then again, the back half of the fight is Billamsy's wheelhouse where his toughness, grit, will, fitness and power pay dividends.

 

Agree which pretty much all of this, but CBS has made a habit of doing his best Leigh Wood impression fight after fight. He looks completely wasted, mouth hanging open, gasping for air, looks practically shitfaced like he's been on a 3 week bender. Then around the 6th or 7th he comes roaring back to dole out an absolute beatdown in the second half of the fight. One of these days somebody is going to knock him spark out in that lull, but as long as he's matched well, that post-lull CBS is going to be a nightmare for all of the middle tier cruiserweights to have to deal with.

 

Yeah, it was incredibly disappointing, I pretty much turned Peacock on after scanning over the RBR, and the first thing I saw was Masternak standing in the corner in the ref waving It off. Like you, I'm a pretty big fan of Masternak and that whole era of cruiserweights, so even though I figured they'd screw him over on the cards or it gets stopped late because of his age, I never envisioned a straight-up quit job on the cards. So I feel somewhat let down, because I do think he could have continued. I think he realized he was starting to gas, had probably lost the last 2 rounds, CBS was starting to rough him up, and he said I'm too old for this ****, **** this.

 

True. It's remarkable he's not been legitimately dropped yet (the KD against Riakporhe was completely bogus) given how porous his defence is. I think Shane McGuigan is one of the best trainers in the sport and whilst Billamsy has improved I think he's living proof that some fighters just cannot be taught defence no matter how good a trainer they have

You have to respect his toughness and resilience though. He might not be the most skillful or pretty to watch but he's very tough, strong, gritty and he can punch and he manages to find a way to grind out the win often after having endured adversity. It is definitely a matter of time before all the wars catch up with him or he just gets hit too hard too often by a puncher and gets knocked out. But as said, Masternak was a very tricky stylistic match up for him.

 

All of these things are true. He's as tough as old shoe leather, unfortunately his skin isn't. And yeah, his lack of defense is going to catch up with him in a bad bad way one of these days. But no matter which direction his career takes and how many times he gets violently knocked the **** out, boxing fans the world over will always speak his name and be eternally grateful for riding us of that wretched gropey fiend The Okolipus.

 

He should've won Fighter of the Year for that achievement alone and his detractors need to remind themselves he did that for us and the sport. He might well have saved the sport from death lol

 

He deserves to have a 2 50 foot statues of him erected in his honor in both Bournemouth and Epsom. He's the best thing Surrey has given the world since Epsom Salt.

 

A statue of him on Bournemouth pier holding an octopus in his hands whilst biting a huge chunk out of its head with his teeth