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How do you win a boxing staredown? Two fighters moving forward to glare at each other is an essential feature of modern sports fighting.
Fighters face each other at press conferences, weigh-ins and other encounters and are expected to stare each other in the eye. These can turn into mental battles when neither boxer wants to back down or look away.
As we read in these face-offs, they are often considered important indicators of the psychology of rival fighters. But do boxers care whether you win or lose? We asked former world champion Chris Billam-Smith, himself a master of intense head-to-head combat.
“I think I get the adrenaline from them during the weights,” Billam-Smith said. Sky Sports.
“Sometimes my legs shake but it’s like an adrenaline thing. But really in my head I’m just (thinking): ‘This is it. I’ve done all the work.’ I love it. Enjoy it. To some people it matters, to some people it doesn’t.”
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Chris Billum-Smith and Ryan Rosicky sit next to each other before their fight at Zuffa Boxing 07.
Although Billam-Smith maintains that he does not try to look down on or demean his opponent, his face-off with rival Richard Riakporah grew increasingly tense.
“He didn’t care, as long as he cared. All week he looked away first, looked away first and then he cared and we hung out for six minutes or whatever. I think if they care, I care,” the former champion said.
“Lawrence Okolie never cared, he always looked away first in all his fights. So I knew he was going to do it against me.
“I think it depends on how you look at it. I’ve probably looked away in some fights and won them. Does it matter? Probably not. I think it’s important how you feel. If you go into it: ‘I’ve got to win this’, and then you don’t, that’s important. For me it depends on where I am on the day. What they always enjoy and what they enjoy.”
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Bournemouth-born fighter Chris Billam-Smith has promised ‘fireworks’ in his home fight against Ryan Rosicky.
Does he have a favorite technique for a staredown?
“I always look into the same eyes. And then I just look away,” he laughed. “Sometimes I open my eyes and really look… I look into the soul!
“I just play with it, it’s good fun.”
Billam-Smith never indulges in pre-fight mind games and trash-talks his opponents.
“It comes with the business,” Billum-Smith said of trash-talk, “but the top level (boxers) can carry integrity and uphold their values outside the ring and carry it on fight night.
“It’s kind of the person I’ve made myself into and that’s really important to me. Boxing is not my whole life. I have family, I have young guys who want to grow up and be a good role model to them both in my career and in the ring, showing them that effort, discipline and respect for that side of things and the craft inside the ring.”
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Chris Billam-Smith insists a fight with Joy Opetaya will ‘definitely happen’ and is a big factor in his decision to sign with Jufa.
He added: “You have to be a fierce competitor inside the ring but you don’t have to be the same person outside. You have to be able to control both.
“I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it, which is what I’m most proud of — keeping that integrity, and sometimes it’s definitely hard in a world where it rewards clickbait-y things, I’m proud of myself for being that person.”
Watch Chris Billam-Smith vs Ryan Rosicky live this Saturday Sky Sports.
