CHRIS Billam-Smith insisted he would “love” to go toe-to-toe with new British cruiserweight champion Richard Riakporhe and avenge his only loss as a professional.

The Bournemouth puncher was ringside at York Hall tonight as Riakporhe outpointed Derbyshire’s Jack Massey to take home the vacant belt.

Londoner Riakporhe sealed victory on all three of the judges’ scorecards, keeping up his unbeaten record as a professional.

Bournemouth’s Billam-Smith, who last month stopped Craig Glover to win the Commonwealth title, lost on a controversial split decision to Riakporhe at the O2 Arena back in July.

And with both fighters now carrying belts, the Dorset star admitted he would be keen to set the record straight.

“I would love the rematch,” said Billam-Smith, when working as a pundit for Sky Sports.

“Whether we can do that next, I don’t know if he’s got to fight the winner of (Deion) Jumah and (Sam) Hyde. We will see.

“There were plenty of things I had to work on after that fight (against Riakporhe).

“The experience I benefitted from massively and I think that showed when I went in there against Craig Glover.”

Assessing Riakporhe’s performance in his title victory over Massey, Shane McGuigan-trained Billam-Smith said: “I did have Jack winning the fight.

“I thought Riakporhe in the first round looked like he had improved a lot. He had a good stance about him.

“But he obviously didn’t have the concentration to keep that.

“Richard hurt Jack in the third round with a good right hand but Jack stuck in there and then the confidence seemed to go out of Riakporhe.

“I had Jack winning a lot of the mid to late rounds and I think he was very unlucky.”