Shalom: "Revenge of Okoli and Billam-Smith is only a matter of time"

Ben Shalom said he would like to arrange a rematch between the WBO world heavyweight champion Chris Billam-Smith (18-1, 12 KOs) and Lawrence Okoli (19-1, 14 KOs), but hinted that this would not happen in the next appearance of boxers in the ring.

“I think we will see this revenge, the only question is when. This week we outlined the plan for the second half of the year with Sky Sports. It seems to me that Okoli will return to the ring soon, and Billam-Smith will fight again in October at a boxing evening in Bournemouth. As long as he is world champion, he will spend all his fights there. His fans are amazing,” said the head of the promotional organization Boxxer.

“We know Okoli wants a rematch and we believe he will learn from the first fight. There's a lot going on in cruiserweight right now. We also have plans to combine the titles with the British guys. We will inform you about everything in the near future," Shalom added.

The first fight between Okoli and Bilam-Smith took place in May. The boxing evening at Vitality Stadium was watched live by more than 15,000 fans.