Britain’s WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith will defend his belt against Poland’s Mateusz Masternak at the Bournemouth International Centre on Sunday.

Riley – a man with a huge social media following and more than one million YouTube subscribers – also maps out his own route towards a world title, starting with a shot at the British title.

Chris Billam-Smith calls himself ‘The Gentleman’ and I promise you it is not a facade.

He was even a nice guy back in 2017 when we fought as amateurs in the England Boxing National Elite Championship quarter-finals.

From what I remember, it was a good fight. The third round was his for sure, but the first two were mine and I edged a majority decision.

At the time it was a decent win but now, with Billam-Smith becoming the force that he is, it has matured nicely.

But there was nothing I saw in him that night six years ago to make me think he would go on to become one of the kings of the cruiserweight division, a British, Commonwealth, European and now world champion.

Billam-Smith has grafted to get there – he is such a hard worker. Whatever he may not have in talent, he makes up for in his worth ethic, dedication and drive. He does not stop. His personality is similar to how he fights.

Masternak no walkover

Billam-Smith is very fit, very tough and can take a hard punch. He is a similar fighter to what he was in the amateurs but he has just honed those skills. The guy that I came up against, everything he was doing then he does now but does it better.

A crucial part of Billam-Smith’s success is down to his trainer, Shane McGuigan. They are fully devoted to each other and share mutual trust.

A good trainer is one who is willing to make those sacrifices with you, someone you know on a deeper level than just throwing punches on pads.

When Billam-Smith beat Lawrence Okolie to win the world title earlier this year, you could see McGuigan and the whole team in the corner, invested in the fight and almost throwing every punch with him.

His first defence of the WBO title is not an easy task. Mateusz Masternak is very well schooled, very experienced. He wants to cause an upset in Bournemouth and shatter Billam-Smith’s dreams.

This is probably Masternak’s last chance to capture a world title, which makes him very dangerous, but I expect Billam-Smith to win.

I will be in the venue feeling the energy of the Bournemouth fans while I also conduct my own little scouting report. I would say I am probably about 18 to 24 months away from fighting for a world title.

Chamberlain should want to shut me up

I was at Isaac Chamberlain’s last fight when he won the British cruiserweight title against Mikael Lawal. I was speaking to Billam-Smith and told him I fancy the winner. He said “Yeah man, why not?” and then went and publicly said he would like to see it happen.

I was glad he did that. People thought I was being audacious wanting to fight Chamberlain, so I was pleased a world champion said it.

With the following I have, there are some who question my legitimacy as a boxer, but I do not really care. I am English champion and it is only right I call out the British champion. Everyone gets offended to be challenged these days and I do not understand why.

The fact is I did not struggle to win the English title. I won every round against Nathan Quarless in September. So clearly that level is not challenging.

Chamberlain does not need to offer me the fight to prove he is better than an English champion, but he should offer me the fight just to shut me up. A huge fight can be created out of this. The biggest fight of his career so far is the defeat by Okolie in 2018.

I genuinely think it is a good fight and I am very confident I can beat him. I like the look of the British belt. My dad had it on his computer background when I was growing up. There is only one in each division and you cannot say that for a world title.

It would be nice to have in the cabinet, but I would not shed any joyful tears after beating Chamberlain because the British title – as prestigious as it is – is just a stepping stone. It would not end there for me.

Maybe only when I win a world title will you see me cry.