Boxing

CHRIS BILLAM-SMITH says leaving baby boy Frank for training camp is harder than other brutal sacrifices he has made in his boxing career.The 31-year-old Bournemouth cruiserweight has a homecoming Battle on the Beach against Isaac Chamberlain on Saturday, at his local International Centre arena.
CBS is the European and Commonwealth cruiserweight championCredit: Getty
But he has spent his training camp up in East London, slogging away at Shane McGuigan’s Leyton gym, away from his nine-week old boy and wife Mia.
And the 15-1 ace, known as ‘The Gentleman’ reckons the weeks away are tougher than any sparring session, early-morning run, depressing diet or defeat he has ever faced.
“I have had to drag myself away every Monday to Friday to focus on training and it’s been really hard,” he told SunSport.
“Because he is so young, everytime I go home it feels like I have got a new child because he has changed and grown so much.
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“People always talk about boxing being the ultimate sport for making sacrifices, the strict lifestyle, cutting weight, punishing your body but all of these things feel like nothing now, compared to losing time away from my wife and child.
“Now it feels like a serious sacrifice, now it really hurts but it also means I am giving camp absolutely everything, because the sacrifice would not be worth it if I wasn’t improving in the ring and then improving their lives with a win on Saturday.”
CBS pulled sickies and overnighters to watch his indie icons at his local BIC arena, so knows he has big desert boots to fill at the top of the bill.
The European and Commonwealth champ lied his way out of school to get tickets to a 2006 Arctic Monkeys gig and queued overnight to see Oasis two years later.
CBS aka The Gentleman is a star student of trainer Shane McGuiganCredit: Getty
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Now it’s his name topping the poster – up against the Brixton 28-year-old – and the memories of his schoolboy antics around the venue are flooding back.
“Me and my mates queued outside the BIC overnight when the Oasis tickets went on sale,” he told SunSport. “We were second in the queue and went both nights.
“I used to go swimming there growing up but my first gig was the Arctic Monkeys when they were touring their first album.
“But I was still at school and my mum wouldn’t let me leave early to get the tickets, so I got another relative to act as my next of kin and call in to the school to give me permission to go home early with a fake illness and I got a bus straight down there to get in the queue.”
The VIP section will be packed with Bournemouth players past and present, including former goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and ex-manager and Sandbanks resident Harry Redknapp.
“I didn’t know that Harry was coming as well but that will be great,” CBS laughed.
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“Thankfully all the tickets were sold online so I haven’t had to do any of that extra work.
“The support from the town has been immense, old school friends I haven’t seen for years are coming, thankfully I don’t think I have too many enemies down here cheering against me.” More

BEN WHITTAKER loves being a Brit bashing victim with his Olympic silver medal a huge target on his back during US camps.Since narrowly missing out on gold in Tokyo, the 25-year-old West Brom Team GB ace has joined forces with Tyson Fury’s American trainer Sugar Hill Steward.
Ben Whittaker grabbed a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo gamesCredit: PA
The Miami training trips are riddled with cockroaches and lizards – which should prepare him perfectly for the world of pro boxing – and the starlet’s alien accent and amateur success means he is getting bullied by our political pals across the Pond.
Ahead of Saturday’s pro debut against Greg O’Neill, Benzo said: “Sometimes when I walk into English gyms I can see people clocking me and showing me respect. Of course it is a nice feeling but I am there to work and train.
“In America, they still look at you as soon as you walk in their gym but they look right through you and then, when sparring starts, they want to batter the English kid with the silver medal.
“I sometimes walk in and see guys tapping each other in their spar and, when I get, those same guys are trying to kill me.
“I like that mindset, it is only going to make me stronger. Being around people who refuse to take it easy on you, or mollycoddle you makes you a stronger fighter.
“I think getting out of your comfort zone, after leaving the Olympics or the Team GB set-up, is the best thing to do.”
West Brom’s Ben Whittaker is trained by American mastermind Sugar Hill StewardCredit: Lawrence Lustig

Whittaker’s recent Sky Sports interviews have a distinct American flavour, full of trash talk and money matters.
But away from the camera he opens up about missing friends, his own bed and simple trips to Asda for his favourite home comforts.
The Anthony Joshua-managed ace insists he is not acting up, just getting to grips with his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and hard-earned fighting fame.
“I have two sides to me,” he explained. “It might be something to do with my ADHD. 
“Sometimes I get in front of the camera and get a bit excited, because I am not media trained, if I wake up with an idea then I usually come out with it on the stage.
“But away from boxing I am a very humble guy. I work hard and am just trying to change the lives of all my family.
“In boxing though, I do sometimes get into a little character and talk some rubbish, there are two sides to me.”
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Whittaker’s Bournemouth International Centre opponent will do well to see the second round but he has a far more worthy future opponent newly signed to the BOXXER stable.
Scotland’s John Docherty knocked the Englishman out of the 2018 Commonwealth Games and a revenge mission is on the horizon.
He said: “I didn’t even realise that he was on the bills as me until this week, it cropped up and I said ‘bloody hell’.
“I think you saw at the Olympics that I am the sort of person who hates losing so if I could get the win back then I definitely would love that”. More

ANDY RUIZ JR’S former opponent Maurenzo ‘Tuffy’ Smith has been shot dead in Houston.Tributes have poured in for the 44-year-old father of two, who fought some big names during a lengthy boxing career.
Maurenzo ‘Tuffy’ Smith won 29 of his 46 professional bouts
Andy Ruiz Jr fought Smith in 2013Credit: Getty
Smith was gunned down by an unnamed 61-year-old assailant, who later shot himself in the head after the crime and is not expected to survive.
The former fighter met his would-be killer in a seafood restaurant where he accompanied an alleged girlfriend to talk through divorce proceedings with the man.
The two parties reportedly spoke for 20 minutes before things turned heated, with the suspect then leaving the restaurant.
But he returned and shot Smith several times, missing his wife and the other restaurant patrons with the 13 rounds he let off.
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Smith was raising four children following the passing of his wife two years ago.
He had 46 bouts as a professional with 29 wins, four draws and 13 defeats to boxers including Ruiz Jr, Shannon Briggs, Charles Martin, Adam Kownacki and Chris Arreola.
Smith last fought Jose Elias Pacheco in Colombia in January and was set to return to the country for a bout next week.
Tributes have poured in for the fighter with a friend writing on Twitter: “Rest in peace Lorenzo (Tuffy) Smith a great champion and even better Coach and friend. I’ll miss you homie.”
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His daughter Saraa Abdullah Smith said: “He was always looking to improve.
“Whether it was for leadership, working out or just becoming a better man or better father.”
Relatives described Smith as a “very loving, kind guy” with his sister Cherice Westpiere describing him as a celebrity boxer born and raised in Houston.
Westpiere also revealed she lost her mother and now brother in the space of just two years. More