“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 No 1 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’.”
Mia is 32, like her husband, and that memory blurs with the reality racing towards them at the Vitality Stadium this weekend. “The fact that we’re here now, nine years on, is crazy. Chris is so focused on his goal but, a couple of times, he has said: ‘I can’t quite believe this is happening and we’re actually here.’ The stadium increased its capacity from 12,000 to 15,000 people and the fact that they’re all going to watch him is amazing.”
Amid the hype and intensity of boxing it is easy to forget the people who matter most to the fighters themselves. But an hour with Mia is a valuable reminder of how much the partners of professional boxers endure in their lonely role on the safe side of the ropes. They are there to support the fighter they love while trying to control their own fear and worry. It can be fraught but, as Mia says, it works best when they express their conflicted emotions to each other.
“Chris keeps saying: ‘Mia, you need to visualise the stadium and the people and the fight.’ He goes through each win, lose or draw scenario with me because that’s what he does to mentally prepare himself. A few weeks ago I was a bit upset and I was crying as I thought about the fight. I had verbal diarrhoea: ‘What if this happens? What if that happens? I can’t visualise it. It’s overwhelming.’ All my anxiety came out but Chris was very calm. He said: ‘Come back to me when you’ve visualised it and you’re ready – because I need you to be ready.’”
Mia scrunches up her face. “It’s hard, because I don’t think I’m ever going to be ready. It’s different for him because this is the path he’s chosen. But I don’t think there will ever be a time when I’m ready to watch Chris get punched in the ring.”
But the couple find a way. They visualise the fight and discuss the contrasting potential endings. “We only have the conversation once,” Mia says, “but he’ll go through the worst scenario that can happen and talk through that with me. We’ll then consider the best scenario and what that will mean. He’ll put a positive into the worst case and explain how we will cope because Chris loves the sport and he’s in the best years of his life. For him, it’s a case of knowing he’s left no stone unturned.”
The worst outcome in boxing occupies terrain far darker and more perilous than sporting defeat. I explain to Mia that I was in Isaac Chamberlain’s dressing room after he and her husband fought 12 brutal rounds which pushed them both to the brink of exhaustion and damage during their European title bout last summer. Billam-Smith won but Chamberlain was wheeled away on a stretcher into a waiting ambulance.
Do they ever talk about the stark reality that, on Saturday, another ambulance will be ready to rush an injured fighter to hospital? “We don’t go into that much detail,” Mia says, “but you can be the best boxer in the world and still get caught with one good shot. So for us the worst-case scenario is that he gets hit clean with a shot he can’t ride. My worst fear is there’s a knockout in front of his home fans.
“But for Chris it’s just another fight. When the bell goes it’s just him and Lawrence in the ring. Chris has visualised the best and worst-case scenarios. That’s how he becomes so mentally strong and why his boxing acumen is so deep. So I don’t talk about hospital, absolutely not. I wouldn’t want to think about that.”
Mia is bolstered by her conviction that their best outcome will occur. “I do get nervous but, by the time of the ring walk, I’m also in fight mode. I have full belief in Chris. He’s going to win and I don’t doubt his ability. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and anxious but I know Okolie. I’ve often watched them sparring so I’m hoping my nerves won’t be as bad this time. The atmosphere and the size of the crowd will be the hardest part for me.”
In the buildup Okolie said: “Chris, I love you, but I have to get the KO.” This week Okolie added: “I’m going to devastate him.”
“The story of this fight is more complex than most,” Mia says. “There’s a lot of history between Lawrence and Chris. For a long time Lawrence has been the No 1 in the division. He’s always been someone Chris looked up to to beat but there was a stumbling block when Lawrence joined the gym. It meant Chris thought they’d never fight. He came to terms with that but for a long time he found it quite difficult.
“As an athlete you always want to try and beat the best. Okolie has always been the best. But they’ve shared the ring hundreds of times in sparring and, now that Lawrence has parted ways with Shane, it’s given Chris an opportunity to fight him for the world title. What better platform to do it on than in front of his home crowd?”
Billam-Smith’s nickname is The Gentleman – which is an accurate reflection of his character as he is different to most trash-talking boxers. But does he get edgy the closer he comes to fighting? “He’s actually very chilled. It’s only about four o’clock on the afternoon of the fight that things change. Some fighters like to have their wives close by – but I’ve never been in the changing room pre-fight. Chris will say goodbye to me and Frank [their son who turns one on Friday] and that’s him going into fight mode.”
Mia laughs when I ask if she is noisy once the bout begins? “I’m extremely vocal. I get lots of texts from friends watching at home who can hear me. I also get abuse on social media. People say: ‘God, there’s that woman again, screaming.’ I just think: ‘Imagine if it was your husband in the ring?’
“A couple of fights before Chris comes out, I start to get a bit antsy and emotional. Usually I have a drink to calm my nerves but, this time, Chris has asked his family not to drink. He hasn’t drunk for nine years and he wants everyone to be totally present when he wins the world title. I’ll just have a small glass of wine at some point to take the edge off. But we will be totally focused on him winning so we can soak it all up.”
