Cheavon Clarke insists he does not care about the amateur fight that Chris Billam-Smith finds "hard to watch". Billam-Smith lost to Clarke in the final of the national elite amateur championships in 2016, a result which the Bournemouth fighter believes denied him a place in the Team GB boxing squad. The British cruiserweight duo will resume their rivalry in the professional ranks as the main event on Zuffa Boxing 12 at the Copper Box Arena on November 7, live on Sky Sports.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player But Clarke, who defeated Billam-Smith twice as an amateur, told Sky Sports: "I haven't got any hook-ups on it [their amateur history]. We're professionals now and it's a new era." Clarke went on to represent Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics, while Billam-Smith secured his ultimate achievement as a professional when he had a spell as the WBO world champion. But the 36-year-old has admitted he is still irritated by his defeat a decade ago to Clarke.
Watching back footage, Billam-Smith said: "At the time I thought I had done enough to win it, but he's the aggressor, he hit me with some good shots. "What I will say is the style there is a lot different to my style now. I look so frail and upright.
It's very different to how I box now, but it was great, it was a great learning curve for me. "But that was very much the beginning of the end of my amateur career. Obviously I had GB assessments off the back of it, but he got on and I didn't after he beat me.
They were going to choose him on the GB team. "It's hard to watch back but also gives me that fire in the belly." Clarke climbed off the canvas twice before dramatically halting Jack Massey in his last fight in June. But he insists his boxing intelligence along with his battling spirit will be crucial in his fight with Billam-Smith.
"I didn't learn nothing new about myself in Bournemouth," he said. "I know that once I'm in the ring or when I'm in any situation, you've got to stop me to stop me. If you get me down, you got to keep me down.
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