Dana White: Chris Billam-Smith stopped too soon in shock defeat to Cheavon Clarke

Chris Billam-Smith finished the fight on his feet, shaking his head in protest, when referee Lee Every halted him in the seventh round against Cheavon Clarke.

No one before had seen Billam-Smith in that kind of predicament. He'd never previously been dropped let alone stopped.

But Cheavon had put him down twice in that round before finishing matters against an old amateur rival.

Billam-Smith wanted to carry on and Zuffa Boxing promoter Dana White agreed, saying: "I thought it was early."

But he added: "Only CBS can answer that question."

Clarke backed the referee's call, convinced he had the former WBO world champion in severe distress.

"If he was blocking the shots he wouldn't have been dancing," Clarke said.

"If Chris had got more time and Chev does what Chev normally does and Chris got knocked down and was then hurt we'd have then had you guys, the media saying: 'Oh the ref didn't do a good job.'

"So did he do a good job or did he do a bad job?"

In his last fight Clarke rose from the canvas twice himself to take out Jack Massey and he pointed out: "Chris was in a worse state than Massey."

What next?

Sky Sports boxing expert and former world champion Johnny Nelson said of Billam-Smith: "Even [his coach] Shane McGuigan said he gets hit far too often and he's not happy about it.

"He's got to think: 'What can I change?' if anything can be changed.

"Chris has achieved everything he can do as a professional fighter, so it's now about appetite and direction.

"What does he want to do? Where does he want to go? Does he want to try and get in the ring again with Chev or is Chev his bogeyman for the rest of his life?"

He also thinks Clarke should fight another British opponent next.

Nelson said: "At domestic level he needs to clear it completely to say he's top of the tree as a cruiserweight in the UK.

"Because on the world scene there's some big shapes and sizes that Chev will have hellfire with.

"He's got the energy and the appetite, so let him bask in the glory."

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Dana White: Chris Billam-Smith stopped too soon in shock defeat to Cheavon Clarke