Boxing
Billam-Smith mulls 'Gentleman' persona with Opetaia in the shadows
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Chris Billam-Smith has opened up about his Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to the boxing ring, as he prepares for Ryan Rozicki.
The Briton makes his Zuffa debut on home soil at the Bournemouth International Centre in a cruiserweight clash on Saturday.
With one eye on securing a long-awaited bout with Jai Opetaia, Billam-Smith is aware any slip-up could be fatal to his plans.
Yet compared to the brash Rozicki, 'The Gentleman' has cut a more sedate figure in the build-up - and has now explained all.
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"I have two personalities," he told Sky Sports News. "There's a fight-night version, who loves the limelight, the man in the arena.
"Then there's the person outside the ring, which is a man of integrity, a man of honour, which is what I try to display for my children.
"On fight night, you have to be a certain person - a performer, an almost extrovert version. I can't be anything like that outside the ring.
"I'm able to flick that switch and change those personalities and become the man I need to be on fight night."
Billam-Smith determined to split difference on return
DAZN News correspondent Andrew Steel
They don't call him 'The Gentleman' for nothing - and in a world of brash contenders out for blood, Chris Billam-Smith is an oddity.
Gilberto 'Zurdo' Ramirez broadly met him on the same plane of mutual respect, but a snarling Ryan Rozicki has another goal in mind.
If the Canadian can upset expectations here, Billam-Smith's hopes of his dream bout with Jai Opetaia likely go up in smoke.
It raises the stakes of what is nominally just a straightforward cruiserweight bout down in Bournemouth, especially for his future.
Win, and Zuffa will provide the platform for his dreams. Lose, and it could be a long way back towards the top and the big names.
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