SAM Smith says that he has never lost belief that professional boxing is what he is meant to do.

The 24-year-old, who made his debut back in December 2015, makes only his fourth outing in a paid-career on Saturday night at the Oasis Leisure Centre on the undercard of Ryan Martin’s WBC Youth world welterweight title fight.

Yet, the Paddy Fitzpatrick-trained light-heavyweight, who has not fought since July 16 last year, admits that there have been days when he has questioned his belief.

For nearly three years, the former England international has been making the long commute from Guildford to Swindon to train under Fitzpatrick before heading off to the building site in Berkshire before returning to Ferndale Road to train again before finally heading back to his family.

Yet, as he prepares to up root his wife Annemarie and six-month-old daughter to Royal Wootton Bassett, the ‘Sniper’ believes all the hard work will eventually pay off.

“Sometimes (you begin to wonder if you are doing the right thing) – especially if you’ve had a bad week or a show has been cancelled,” said Smith, who formed the show’s promoters, Trifecta Boxing Promotions, alongside Martin, and stablemate Luke Watkins.

“But I have always looked at the big picture and hopefully Saturday will be the start of something which will help me achieve my goal.

“At the moment, I’m leaving my house at 5.30 in the morning to drive a couple of hours to train with Paddy, then I head off to work.

“Then it is back to Swindon for more training before heading home.

“It is hard, especially with a six-month-old and all the night feeds.

“But I know that things will change, sponsors will come on board, hopefully from seeing my performance this Saturday, and then I can just train, go and relax and spend time with the family before heading out to train again.”

Despite having not fought since last summer and never in a contest scheduled to go more than four rounds, Smith has no qualms about stepping up in distance to eight rounds when he returns to action this weekend.

“You are doing that, and more, in the gym sparring,” he said.

“I know it has been a long time, too long, since my last fight but I’m really forward to getting out and showing what I can do.”