If Chris Billam-Smith chose boxing, then it's safe to say boxing chose his next opponent.
The British cruiserweight resumes his quest to become a two-time world champion against Ryan Rozicki on the Zuffa Boxing show in his hometown of Bournemouth on June 6, live on Your Site.
The pair sat down for a tense exchange on the latest edition of The Gloves Are Off, where Billam-Smith's persona, upbringing, and journey to the ring stood in stark contrast to the fearsome Canadian.
While Billam-Smith grew up by the seaside on England's south coast, Rozicki's childhood was spent in a trailer park in Nova Scotia.
Rozicki's father turned to boxing to straighten out his pugnacious son after he developed a penchant for street fighting. It transformed an unhealthy interest into an obsession.
A young Rozicki would trawl through the annals of history for inspiration, inspiration he would use inside - and outside - of the ring. The likes of Jack Dempsey, Sonny Liston, and John L. Sullivan - fighters in the truest sense of the word - struck a chord.
"I could relate to them," he explained.
Of particular interest was Dempsey's infamous battering of Jess Willard in 1919, where the bigger Willard was obliterated in three of the most brutal rounds ever seen in a ring.
"When I saw it, at that time in my life, it was all about violence," Rozicki added.
"It was always about how much damage I could do to somebody in a street fight. I'm not going to get into too much detail about that.
"But when I saw Jack Dempsey fight, the way he attacked Willard - it was just the violence he displayed in that fight.
"To this day, I think it's probably the most brutal set of injuries ever suffered in one boxing match. I try to do the same thing."
The obsession has sown the seeds for a boxing career in which Rozicki has shown little regard for the fundamental tenet of the sweet science: hit and don't get hit.
Outright violence - just like Dempsey meted out on Willard - is the only currency the steely‑eyed 31-year-old, who has won 20 of his 21 fights by knockout, trades in.
These spiteful intentions he hopes will inflict the first knockdown - and knockout - of Billam-Smith's career, and something that forces the Bournemouth crowd to put allegiances aside.
"You have to knock someone down to knock them out," Rozicki declared. "I hope they [the crowd] appreciate the violence in a nice way. Win or lose.
"I'm looking to knock him out. I'm always looking to knock the opponent out, as my record shows, but I just like being in great fights, I like being in exciting fights. That's what I like about this fight.
"What Jack Dempsey did on that night, on July 4, 1919 in Toledo, Ohio, changed the course of boxing forever. I'd like to bring a little bit more of that.
"Because although I like boxing, and appreciate the boxers, the movement, the technique, the jab, the angles, we don't see enough of the violence - like two guys trying to actually hurt each other."
The differences between the fighters extend far beyond their boxing style and into their very demeanours.
Rozicki emits an always‑on sense that he is ready for whatever confrontation might come his way.
Billam-Smith cuts a far more composed figure, befitting his "Gentleman" moniker, but one he says he has to set aside the moment he steps into the ring.
"I have two personalities," the former British, Commonwealth, European and WBO cruiserweight world champion said.
"There's a fight‑night version of me. A performer, an almost extrovert version of me, who loves the limelight, loves being the man in the arena.
"Then there's the person outside the ring, which is a man of integrity, a man of honour - which is what I try to display for my children, for anyone who looks up to me, for the support I've had over the years.
"On fight night, you have to be a certain person. I can't be anything like I am outside the ring. And I'm able to flick that switch and change those personalities and become the man I need to be on fight night."
With the only blemish on Rozicki's professional record coming via a unanimous decision at the hands of Oscar Rivas in 2021, Billam-Smith is under no illusion about the scale of the task ahead.
"I don't think mentally there's any quit in Ryan," he said. "I don't think he would ever give up. I think he'd rather be laid out.
"His corner are the ones I have to convince to get him out of there. They're the ones that would have to go, 'This is too much.'
"Mentally I don't think there's that in him. If it is, then we'll find it, because what I definitely bring out of people is that I take people into dark places with the way I fight. That is what I do. I draw it out if it's there."
Bournemouth's hometown hero Chris Billam-Smith returns to the Gloves Are Off studio to face off with the intimidating Canadian, Ryan Rozicki, ahead of their clash Saturday June 6, live on Your Site.
