Fans were given an “as advertised” treat of a war/slugfest last night in Bournemouth, this as cruiserweights Chris Billam-Smith and Ryan Rozicki went hard at it for seven eventually bloody rounds. Former WBO cruiser champ “CBS” got the win – and you could call it an upset win and a pretty big one in the opinion of some of us – after the previously unstopped Rozicki of Canada was pulled out due to severe bleeding, with both eyes badly compromised.

But before the unfortunate ending, fans got one heck of a battle, of the relentless, toe-to-toe, fight in a phone booth kind. It was special. It was hectic. It was, as has already been written, a “real life Rocky” fight. And in handing in yet another great action affair, CBS is fast becoming one of Britain’s most consistently exciting fighters. Win, lose or draw, Billam-Smith delivers in the red-hot action stakes……see his wars with Zurdo Ramirez, Brandon Glanton, Isaac Chamberlain, and one or two others. And there promises to be more to more hot stuff to come from the 35 year old.

CBS, now working for Zuffa, put himself bang in place for another big fight with last night’s gory victory. In short: who wouldn’t want to see CBS get rewarded with another world title chance?

Last night’s fight was crammed full of action: hooks, a load of ’em, trading, a heck of a lot of it. And pressure, rocks for chins, and, again, blood. This was an X-rated one, no doubt about it. We’ve seen some truly mesmerising ring action this year already (the epic Daniel Dubois-Fabio Wardley savagery right up there for FOTY), but last night’s terrific, non-stop 200 pound war was another contender for FOTY.

Can Rozicki (who left the ring on a stretcher last night) come again? Can Billam-Smith rule the world once again? I don’t know about you, but you can sign me up for the next instalment of CBS right now!

Billam-Smith is now 22-2(14) Rozicki, aged 31, is now 21-2-1(20).