LONDON, England - Former world cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith is being lined up for a February return after deciding against a fight with Roman Fress (23-1, 13 KOs).

With their 200-pound champion Gilberto Ramirez currently out through injury, the WBO had ordered Billam-Smith and Fress, their top two ranked fighters, to box for an interim belt.

The initial purse bid for the fight was voided after nobody made an offer but, on a second attempt, SES Promotions pledged $156,921. Billam-Smith (21-2, 13 KOs), who stood to earn 60 per cent of that figure ($94,152.60), decided against taking the fight.

Now his trainer Shane McGuigan has predicted that Billam-Smith, The Ring's No. 2-rated cruiserweight, will return to the ring in February and says their main priority is securing a big-name opponent.

“We’re looking at February now for Chris,” McGuigan told The Ring on Wednesday.

“Like all fighters, everybody is impatient and wants to get out before the end of the year because they want to enjoy their Christmas, but he will have to wait a little bit longer. It has been a frustrating time.”

McGuigan also explained that they were open to a Fress fight and seemed to be close to agreeing a deal without the need for purse bids.

He said: “We knew that Boxxer [Billam-Smith’s promoters] weren't bidding on the purse bids.

“We thought we were coming to an agreement with Fress’ team and we got quite far on with that but then the WBO kept forcing the bids.

“The WBO were aware of what was going on and gave us some extra time to get the deal but we were waiting on a broadcast date, we were waiting on confirmation.

"I think when we were getting pushed on the time, we were not going to jump into anything, so we're going to go and explore the options. For Fress I think it goes to the next contender down the rankings and we will move on.

“I think it makes sense to box names, that is what makes most sense. We were only ever going to fight Fress to get that interim title especially for that amount of money.”

Billam-Smith’s last outing was his decision victory over Brandon Glanton on the undercard of The Ring’s event headlined by Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 26.

Before that he had been boxing on Sky with Boxxer but it is currently unclear on which platform he will fight next.

Boxxer’s broadcast deal with Sky ended in June and they have since agreed a deal with the BBC, which kicks off on November 29 with the delayed British heavyweight title clash between Frazer Clarke and Jeamie TKV.

The Ring understands that Boxxer’s next date on BBC Two is likely to land in February and, when asked whether he expects Billam-Smith to box on the channel, McGuigan said: “We don't know yet. He could go anywhere. We'll wait and see.

“He could in theory but it depends on the deal, depends on the opponent, the deal, what they want and everything else.

“It has been a frustrating time for everyone who was boxing on Sky before. We hear they are coming back into boxing, now the BBC are in boxing and DAZN are more involved in boxing than ever.

“So it's a good time generally. It's just from June to December it has been a frustrating time for everybody, unless you're on DAZN.”