Billam-Smith Opens Up on How Zurdo Loss Affected His Payouts

Former world champion Chris Billam-Smith (20-2, 13 KOs) has spoken candidly about the emotional and financial toll of his defeat to Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs), the current WBA and WBO cruiserweight titleholder from Mexico.

“I think it was the worst feeling I’ve ever experienced. It was Monday. I was at home trying to get some rest when my wife brought our son Frank back from nursery. I was waiting for him, and all I wanted was to hug him… but he didn’t want to hug me. He just looked at my face and said: ‘No, Daddy, I don’t like your owies.’

After the fight, I spent all of Sunday and Monday thinking about getting home to hold Frank. But when he saw me, he didn’t want to be near me. He kept saying, ‘No, Daddy, I don’t like your owies.’ And I just thought, ‘Yeah, me neither, mate.’ It was like another punch to the gut. You know what I mean? That was the last straw.

From a family perspective and from a financial standpoint, everything changed massively. The drop in purses is just insane in percentage terms. Had I won, the next fight would’ve meant a massive pay rise — maybe even another unification bout. But because of the loss, my purse for the next fight was significantly lower than what I got for the Riyadh bout. When you look at that gap, it’s huge.

I lost. That’s on me. I have to own it. But deep down, I also know — I had nothing more to give that night. I couldn’t have done more. I had nothing left. So I don’t regret anything. Now it’s time to regroup and move forward,” Billam-Smith admitted.

The unification bout between Billam-Smith and Ramirez took place in November 2024 and ended with Zurdo winning by unanimous decision.

Chris Billam-Smith is now set to return to the ring on April 26, where he’ll face Brandon Glanton.

You can find the full breakdown and analytics of that matchup from Ready to Fight at the link provided.