What to Know
- Zuffa Boxing 12 puts cruiserweights in the main event with Chris Billam-Smith facing Chev Clarke.
- The clash takes place at the Copper Box Arena in London on Saturday, November 7.
- Undercard fights feature rising stars Da’Mazion Vanhouter and Umar Dzambekov.
Zuffa Boxing 12 returns to London’s Copper Box Arena on Saturday, November 7, for a 10-round cruiserweight main event between former amateur rivals and current top contenders Chris Billam-Smith and Chev Clarke.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, October 2 via Zuffa Boxing.
The main event puts the spotlight on the cruiserweight division with world title implications. Former world champion Billam-Smith of Bournemouth, England (22-2, 14 KOs) has won two fights since losing his title. Billam-Smith scored a knockout win over Ryan Rozicki at Zuffa Boxing 07.
Clarke of Gravesend, Kent (12-2, 9 KOs) returns to the ring following a come-from-behind stoppage over Jack Massey on the Billam-Smith vs Rozicki undercard. The Team GB Tokyo Olympian won two amateur bouts against Billam-Smith, including a decision in the final of the 2016 English National Championships
Zuffa Boxing 12 Lineup Includes U.S. Based Prospects
Zuffa’s newest signee, cruiserweight Lucas Roehrig of Notting Hill, London (9-0, 5 KOs), will fight Scotland’s Connal McDonald (5-1, 1 KO) in an eight-round bout.
Scottish middleweight Sam Hickey (6-0, 3 KOs) and American heavyweight Da’Mazion Vanhouter (13-0, 10 KOs) will face opponents to be named in eight-round fights. Vanhouter, age 21, delivered an eye-opening performance on the Garcia vs. Benn card earlier this month, stopping Raphael Akpejiori in the first round.
British light heavyweight contender Zach Parker will face undefeated Umar Dzambekov of Austria in a 10-round bout with serious career implications. Parker (26-2, 18 KOs), a former British super middleweight champion, makes his Zuffa Boxing debut following a controversial decision loss last November to Olympic bronze medalist Joshua Buatsi.
Dzambekov (14-0, 10 KOs) is a southpaw power puncher who aspires to be Austria’s first heavyweight champion. He now trains out of Los Angeles. Dzambekov is developing a serious fan following. He has stopped five of his last six opponents. In his last fight in February, he delivered a crunching second-round knockout over veteran Ahmed Elbiali on Zuffa Boxing 03.
Additional information on the event will be announced in the coming weeks.
Zuffa Boxing 12 will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland and will stream exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Canada.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.
