Smith Learns the Hard Way That Billups Is No Pushover

James (Bonecrusher) Smith’s drive to work his way back into big-money heavyweight fights by fighting carefully chosen opponents--in boxing, they are called tomato cans--blew up Monday night at the Forum.

His tomato can turned out to be a gasoline can.

Levi Billups, a former United States Football League linebacker who had had one fight in the last 18 months and a 15-5 record, registered a unanimous decision over Smith, 38, who once held a piece of the heavyweight championship.

Billups, who earned $6,500 to Smith’s $13,500, stood up to the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Smith’s bombs in every round but the ninth. Billups won going away and ended Smith’s two-year, 11-fight winning streak.

Smith knocked Billups down two minutes into the ninth round. Billups, 229, nearly went down from three right hands, escaped, then fell from a powerful right to the head. He got up and held off the advancing but ponderous Smith for the duration. The judges’ margins were 98-91 (twice) and 96-94. The Times card had Billups by 95-94.

Billups, 29, was 15 pounds heavier than he had weighed in years, leading some to suspect he was an easy mark for Smith. But his conditioning was at least the equal of Smith’s. And not in any round could Smith avoid Billups’ lead right hands.

“Bonecrusher’s easy to hit when he sets up, because you can see his punches coming. It’s just a matter of getting off first,” Billups said. “I trained very hard for this fight. I sparred six to eight rounds a day for two weeks.”

Smith said he “just couldn’t get up” for the match and waved off any suggestion that he retire.

“Why should I pack it in?” Smith said. “(Francesco) Damiani got knocked out in his last fight (by Ray Mercer), and he’s fighting for the heavyweight championship (against Evander Holyfield Nov. 23). I’ll take some time off, though, and think things over.”

Forum matchmaker Tony Curtis said he will try to match Billups with another former titleholder, Tony Tubbs.

The better fight Monday, before 5,154, was the co-feature between junior-welterweights David Kamau and Sammy Fuentes. Kamau, from Kenya, improved to 15-0 with a unanimous decision over Fuentes (21-9-1).

One fighter lost his bout before he reached the Forum. Hermino Sanchez said he was mugged by gang members outside the Azteca Gym in East Los Angeles Monday morning. Sanchez, a lightweight, was to meet Curtis Hall in a four-rounder but was scratched from the card.