Chris Billam-Smith’s nickname of ‘The Gentleman’ is becoming for a household man who holds native charities near his coronary heart, however the WBO champion has ready for a “brutal” revenge mission.
Billam-Smith has sharpened his abilities for a treacherous WBO cruiserweight title defence in opposition to Richard Riakporhe in entrance of the challenger’s dwelling crowd at Selhurst Park on Saturday night time, reside on Sky Sports activities.
Nevertheless, at dwelling, when spending time together with his family members, there’s a vastly-different strategy from Billam-Smith, a husband and father.
“Boxing is a sport where you can’t be the person you need to be around your family,” mentioned Billam-Smith.
“It is a very brutal sport, and the mindset it’s important to get in on sparring days – you do not actually need your loved ones to be round.
“While you’re round family members, you launch oxytocin, which is not the hormone you want for boxing. You want a number of adrenaline and testosterone.
“I’m quite good at turning that switch between being the boxing version of myself and the family version. It’s almost like you’re a character.”
It was at one other Premier League stadium – the house of his beloved AFC Bournemouth – the place he outpointed his former stablemate Lawrence Okolie simply over a yr in the past.
The newly-crowned world champion devoted the win to his mom who, earlier than making a full restoration, was recognized with breast most cancers for the second time in her life.
“She’s always been my rock; my best mate,” he mentioned. “We lived together for a while, just her and I, when my brothers had moved out and my mum and dad had split up.
“A few years in the past I had my son, Frank, and she or he’s superb with him. They have an actual, particular bond. She’s positively the place I get my preventing spirit from.”
Away from boxing, there are two constants that can at all times be central to Billam-Smith’s life: household and Bournemouth.
As a well-supported, high-profile athlete, his presence is felt by various native charities; one in every of which, the Bournemouth Foodbank, he’s an envoy for.
After visiting their warehouse – which was filled with meals – and being instructed they’d only one to 2 months’ price of inventory, he was, fairly emphatically, left shocked by the magnitude of the charity’s work.
“My wife ended up in tears,” he mentioned. “She just couldn’t believe it, seeing how many people are in dire need, especially now with the cost of living going up.
“It was eye-opening past perception, actually. All of the employees are pretty, and so they placed on some actually good occasions.
“It’s more than just food. There’s some really amazing people down there who make such an important difference in the area.”
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Watch the very best moments from Riakporhe’s win over Billam-Smith by cut up determination in 2019
As a life-long Bournemouth fan, Billam-Smith has developed a robust partnership together with his boyhood soccer membership which, in flip, has opened the door to a number of alternatives.
He has, in a fairly unconventional sense, learnt extra concerning the gamers by internet hosting a brand-new sequence on the AFC Bournemouth YouTube channel, which is filmed at an area restaurant.
Billam-Smith asks a sequence of questions and the gamers can reply by both offering a solution or, if they’re courageous sufficient, tucking into an extra-hot hen wing.
“It’s been great fun,” he mentioned. “To host something like that – and I’m not known for my hosting skills – I was quite pleased with how I did in the end.
“It was very nerve-wracking for me at first, however to sit down there with the lads was phenomenal.
“It is two of my favourite things in one place: AFC Bournemouth and Chicken & Blues.”
A more in-depth relationship with the staff has impressed Billam-Smith to contemplate which gamers would make the very best boxers.
“Looking at the strength of Antoine [Semenyo], I think he’d be pretty handy, pretty powerful,” he mentioned.
“Then you’ve got workhorses like Lewis Cook and Ryan Christie. I’m sure they’d be able to turn their hands to it as well.”
With an array of expertise in each soccer and boxing, skilled sport on the south coast has by no means shone brighter.
It’s maybe, for that reason, that Billam-Smith feels an added want – past wishing to actual revenge on a former opponent – to come back by way of his subsequent struggle in complete vogue.
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Forward of Billam-Smith vs Riakporhe, we have a look again at a few of the greatest stadium fights in British boxing historical past
Whereas it was Riakporhe who emerged victorious following their first encounter again in 2019, a much-improved model of ‘The Gentleman’ will likely be seeking to placed on a extra refined efficiency once they conflict for the second time.
“[Riakporhe] is not a high work-rate fighter, and he won’t want to be that against me because I’d just tire him out,” he mentioned.
“It’ll be interesting to see how he deals with my pace, which is always intense.”
Riakporhe has ruthlessly stopped his final 5 opponents, however, come struggle night time, Billam-Smith is assured he’ll negate his rival’s devastating energy.
“I can just keep a really high work-rate, for a really long time,” he mentioned. “My engine, my fitness and my heart is all there, and a lot of cruiserweights can’t live with that pace.
“Anybody on this planet would wrestle with that [pace], I consider.”
Final remaining tickets for Billam-Smith vs Riakporhe available via Boxxer.com.
Watch Chris Billam-Smith defend his WBO cruiserweight world title against Richard Riakporhe at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park, live on Sky Sports on Saturday June 15; or Stream with NOW
