BOURNEMOUTH, England – Chris Billam-Smith might be a former WBO cruiserweight beltholder and almost 36 but that hasn’t stopped him exploring ways to improve.

Known for his insatiable desire to learn, the Bournemouth star has incorporated new training methodology in his preparations for Canadian tough guy Ryan Rozicki.

They meet on Saturday at the Bournemouth International Centre on the South Coast with both hoping victory could lead them to a bout against divisional leader Jai Opetaia.

While Billam-Smith is, of course, trained in the boxing gym by Shane McGuigan, he has enlisted support elsewhere as he looks for the small margins of progression to ensure success.

Asked what has changed in his preparation from fight to fight, "CBS" told BoxingScene: “I think that’s just game plan,” he said of working for specific opponents. “I think you build the engine and the motor and the car, and then you adapt it to the racetrack. I guess it's a bit like an F1 car.

“You have the car and then you do the little adjustments here and there, and the set-up is different, right? That’s how they do it in F1. So, I think the set-up is just up here [points to his head] in terms of game plan. I’ve got a different strength team than I’ve had before, which I’m really, really enjoying, and I think it’s helped me massively.”
The team is called 292 Performance, and they coach soccer players and one of their staff, Jamie Mitchell, worked on GB Boxing for several years, which gives him an insight into the emotions and mind of everything a fighter must go through, too. 

“That’s quite important to know in a fighter,” Billam-Smith added. “To know what boxers are like at times, and after hard sparring and what it takes out of them. It's probably different to a lot of other sports, whereas rugby, everyone’s the same, and they’re always battered as well, I imagine. But with boxers, it’s kind of peaks and troughs. There’s obviously different demands as well, but he understands the demands, physiologically, on the body, so he’s really helped me. And yeah, I’d say differently, there's a lot of stuff which is done. It’s still strength-based, but there’s a lot more power-based stuff rather than max lifting.

“There’s not loads of max lifting done, which makes sense, now I’ve gone through it, whereas before, a few years ago, maybe five, six years ago, I would have been a bit more naive to it. I’d be like, ‘I feel like I'm missing something here.’

“But where I’ve lived as an athlete for so long, it’s a bit easier to digest and figure out, ‘why does this work and why am I doing it?’ And they’re really good at explaining that as well.”

Going back to the car analogy, Billam-Smith said he would be a muscle car, like a Mustang, if he was compared to a vehicle while opponent Rozicki would be a pick-up truck.

“I feel like he’d be one of them,” the Englishman said. “Like, chugs along, but can go plenty of miles, can get plenty of miles out of him.”

Billam-Smith has some miles on his own odometer. He’s had several hard fights in his 21-2 (13 KOs) career but he’s also not boxed since last April, when he outpointed Brandon Glanton at Tottenham Hotspur’s Stadium in North London.

He would have preferred to be busy, but the upside was wife, Mia, gave birth to their second child so he’s been able to be home and spend time with the newborn. 

“I did want to be active, but I think in hindsight, I’m quite glad about it,” he said. “But it’s been amazing being there for the first nine months. I’ve been a bit more present with this one than I was for Frank [his firstborn].

“I was in camp after four weeks with him, and then, obviously, I had a bit of time off after. But it’s nice to properly see him grow up a little bit more.” 

There is a quiet mutual respect between the fighters ahead of their bout on Saturday night.

After the fight was announced, they filmed what came across as an edgy face off show for the Sky Sports camera, but Billam-Smith denied that there was any kind of animosity. 

“Always looks tense. I don’t feel tense in it,” he said. “I feel very calm in it. But yeah, it’s just part of it. I think he believes he’s got an opportunity and he’s taking it very seriously and he’s doing everything he needs to do. But sometimes that’s just not enough. Sometimes you’re just not good enough and that’s how I see this. But I think he’s very well prepared. I think he is what he is with regards to his punch power and physique and what he does. But I think sometimes there’s things you can’t just switch on for a training camp. Where I’ve been doing it for so long and I’ve been at a higher level for so long, you can’t just catch up to that in one training camp. And I feel like that’s kind of what he has been doing. It will put him in good stead for the future because it's another camp. But I think, for me, he believes he’s got an opportunity and he’s going to give it everything.”

Rozicki is clearly determined, but Billam-Smith reckons the Canadian’s care-free attitude could be his undoing. 

“He spoke already about either ‘I’m going to win by knockout or I’m going to get knocked out,’” Billam-Smith explained. “So he’s not doubting the fact that he knows he can get beat.

“I think he feels like it’s a good opportunity.”

Rozicki actually travelled to the UK in 2023 to see Billam-Smith crowned as WBO champion, a few miles up the road from where they will fight this weekend.

It was at the Vitality Stadium, home of Billam-Smith’s beloved Bournemouth AFC, where the Brit raised the WBO title aloft following a decision win over Lawrence Okolie.

And while Rozicki has made his bones in Canada, where he’s had all 23 of his pro fights, Billam-Smith does not think the visitor is resentful at having to travel to his backyard.

“I don’t think he should be. Without blowing my own trumpet, I’m a former world champion and a decent name in the division,” he said.

“I’m a bigger name than he is and that’s the facts of it. So you can’t be resentful. I don’t think he is.”

Both are fighting to land bigger nights.

Billam-Smith said of Opetaia once more, “That’s the one I want” but he knows he must do the job on Saturday, first.

There’s also the inconvenient spectre of Jack Massey, in the co-main against Cheavon Clarke, calling for a fight with Billam-Smith, having defeated the Bournemouth man many years ago in the amateurs.

“He should be looking at me because it’s someone in his country above him in the rankings,” Billam-Smith stated. “And that’s exactly what I’m doing. He can’t have a go at me for looking up when he’s doing the same thing. But he needs to focus on his fight on Saturday. He’s a very, very good fighter. I think that’ll be a great fight. It’s one that I wish I was able to watch. But I won’t be able to watch that one, unfortunately. But I think it’ll be a great fight.”

One of the stories of fight week is that it is Zuffa’s bow in the UK boxing market, and Billam-Smith has been impressed by what he has seen of the TKO juggernaut.

“It feels very fighter-first. And something you don’t really get in fight week very often,” he said.

“There’s no media workout. No fighter enjoys doing a media workout. You go in there for five minutes, and you either go in there and you’ve got to warm up, and then they’re telling you to hurry up. And then they moan at you when you just go in and do a little shadow boxing. So it’s like, ‘You can't have it both ways.’ It’s fight week where usually they’re on a Wednesday so you’re three, four days out from the fight and they want you to do something which is not going to benefit you on fight night. I’ve never understood it. I just shadow box, depending on where we’re at. Ahead of the Richard Riakporhe fight, I was warming up upstairs, doing pads upstairs before we got in the ring and did that bit. So it’s got to be proper. We’re professional athletes, and that’s what it feels like here. They understand that. You’ve got a dietitian and nutritionist there. You’ve got a therapist here which can look after you and do treatments, which is just unheard of. You never get that at any other show. I think all the fighters feel really well valued and looked after, which is really important.” 

But he knows all too well that those are the fruits of the labor that Rozicki is also tasting, and both will want it to continue. To that end, Billam-Smith has a target on his back.

“For sure,” he admitted. “Absolutely. Saturday’s a big, big fight, and I’ve got to stay focused.”