Chris Billam-Smith fights Lawrence Okolie for a world title on Saturday, but how will it be for his loved ones outside the ring?
“It’s always been his dream,” Mia Billam-Smith says on a tranquil morning in Bournemouth as she describes the motivation she and her husband, Chris, will feel on Saturday night in their home town. Chris Billam-Smith fights Lawrence Okolie for the WBO world cruiserweight title in a fascinating yet dangerous clash between two boxers who worked alongside each other for years under their joint trainer Shane McGuigan. Okolie has since left McGuigan’s gym and, at last, Billam-Smith has the chance to fight for a world title.
“We were lying in bed around four in the morning, when you have those silly chats,” Mia says as she remembers how she and Chris first shared their deepest hopes soon after they met in 2014. “I asked him: ‘If you were on your deathbed, what would be the one thing in your life you would want to have achieved?’ For me my number one goal was to be a mum. I was desperate to start a family. Chris said: ‘I want to be world champion. If I’ve done that, then I’m going to be happy on my deathbed’.”