Chris Billam-Smith is steeling himself to be pushed to his limits in Sunday’s world title fight with Mateusz Masternak.
Billam-Smith will put his WBO cruiserweight championship on the line against Poland’s Masternak on Sunday at the Bournemouth International Centre, live on Sky Sports.
Masternak has had a long 52 fight career and fought the very best in division over the years, including Tony Bellew, Yuniel Dorticos and many more.
But this will be his first world championship fight and Masternak is determined to win it.
“It makes for an intriguing fight,” Billam-Smith told Sky Sports. “I know what position he’s in. I know how hungry he’s going to be for this fight.
“Realistically, this is his only and probably last chance at a world title so he’s going to be giving it absolutely everything.
“He will leave everything in the ring. So I’ve got to be willing to do the same.
“We’ll see who comes out on top.”
But Billam-Smith has been preparing himself to draw on all his reserves in their contest.
“I always train with an intensity in all my boxing work and I think that’s something that I’ve built up from when I was an amateur. I’ve always trained at a high pace and always dug deep so it’s not hard to go to that place,” he insisted.
“Because I spend so much of time there in training. So it’s not hard to have to dig deep if I need to.”
Billam-Smith faced off with Masternak at their announcement press conference and will go head to head with him again during the week ahead of Sunday’s clash.
“He’s really well built. Thick arms. Huge neck. You never really see him out of shape when he’s outside camp or anything like that. He’s super experienced as well, so he’s got that behind him,” the champion reflected.
As formidable as Masternak might prove to be, Billam-Smith emphasises his own strengths.
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Watch highlights of Mateusz Masternak’s convincing points victory against Adam Balski
“As long as I’ve had a full camp I’ve always prepared as diligently as I can and prepared for the very best version of everyone,” he said.
“My work rate and my punch power and my speed, I’ve got to focus a lot on what I do well as what he does really well.
“It’s not a fight that you can take lightly. He’s one of those guys where if you take him lightly he’ll definitely beat you and that’s how it should be.
“It’s a world title defence. No fight’s going to be easy so it’s about preparing perfectly for this and getting in a good performance.”
Watch Chris Billam-Smith vs Mateusz Masternak on Sunday live on Sky Sports Arena from 6pm.