There are many unwritten rules in boxing that go far beyond those to which the Marquess of Queensberry gave his name.
One is the code of silence around sparring, with it seen as a breach to discuss the outcome of sessions for fear of being exorcised from the tight-knit community.
Increasingly, though, in the trash-talking era, it has become de rigeur to claim to have knocked someone out or been swapped out in sparring – but you will not hear much of that from Chris Billam-Smith.
“The Gentleman” has always preferred to do his talking with his hands where he can.
“Maybe I’d get paid more if I trash-talked, but I like to keep my integrity,” Billam-Smith tells i.
“It’s just the way I was brought up. [I had] a good father and a good mother, so I’ve always tried to be as polite as I can.
“It’s sometimes difficult in this sport, but I’ve always sort of lived by that.”
It appears to have paid off too. Billam-Smith will fight former stablemate Okolie for the WBO world cruiserweight title on Saturday at his home football ground in Bournemouth, with 15,000 people in attendance.
It is the fulfilment of a dream, although he initially thought he would be wearing shin pads and football boots rather than a pair of boxing gloves.
“I remember being 12 and wanting to play on the pitch and be a player, and chanting people’s names and wishing that was me on the pitch,” he adds.
“I lived about half a mile, maybe three quarters a mile away from the stadium. I used to be playing in the backyard on a Saturday afternoon I’d be able to hear them. I could hear the roar of the crowd when they scored.”
He had a season ticket as a teenager but recognised that he was an “average” footballer at best and when he took up boxing at 16 years old, he immediately fell in love with it. Eventually, he found himself under the tutelage of Shane McGuigan and part of a talented stable of British boxers that included Okolie, a tall, awkward cruiserweight with whom he reckons he sparred around 300 rounds in total over the years.
The last time they were in a ring together was 15 months ago, by which time Billam-Smith says he felt he was getting the measure of Okolie, and even with his distaste for trash-talk, he cannot resist a backhanded dig when discussing the possibility of his rival moving up to heavyweight one day.
“I think he prefers the slower guys,” he says.
“I think it’s easier for him to dictate the pace and he can measure them up because they’re a bit slower. They haven’t got very good feet, compared to cruiserweights, a lot of them, because they’re a bit more flat-footed in their shots so that’s a massive opportunity for Lawrence to move up.”
That is what Okolie has openly been planning as he prepares to defend his title for the fourth time (and at his third football ground, having previously done so at Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium).
McGuigan used to coach both fighters before Okolie left to work with SugarHill Steward and Billam-Smith says the trainer gave him plenty of notes on his rival.
“He has done throughout, even when Lawrence was in the gym,” Billam-Smith says.
“And he also would have given Lawrence tips on on me in the gym [before he left] and what I’m good at. So there’s things we’re working on now in the gym every day and have been.”
It’s easy to confuse Billam-Smith’s laidback attitude and refreshingly grown-up perspective on boxing with a lack of drive or belief. He lost his unbeaten record to Richard Riakporhe back in 2019 but has been working harder than ever to regain any ground he lost that night.
He was out again, stopping Craig Glover for the vacant Commonwealth title, within four months of his loss and barring the obvious pandemic difficulties has fought three times a year with some regularity.
This, though, will be something different. He has had nearly six months to prepare, albeit the exact opponent was not confirmed until eight weeks out. By contrast, Okolie is on a fast turnaround, having beaten David Light at the end of March – not that Billam-Smith is expecting a tired or jaded opponent because of it.
“If anything he’s got an advantage,” Billam-Smith adds.
“He has been there and he’s had a whole camp. He can use that as a pre-camp. He’s had a 12-round spar under the lights. So he’s got the experience.”
And that is the difference on Saturday. The two fighters know each other inside out, but have never done it in front of 15,000 people. There will be no code of silence or secrecy around that meeting.
