Coach Joe Gallagher has expressed his frustration at the rules laid out for his former keeper Callum Smith in the lead up to Smith’s super-middleweight unification matchup against Canelo Alvarez in 2020. .
Gallagher said he believes it’s not the best version of Smith of the night, and cites only time for a short camp and the inability to fully participate as part of the reason for the subpar performance. .
Talking to Social boxinghe say:
“That loss hit me really hard. There were some issues surrounding that fight. He fought Canelo with four weeks’ notice and five sessions. “
“We couldn’t get the partners involved.”
“I’m not making excuses but you can’t train for four or five weeks to fight the best in the world.”
Gallagher went on to say that he feels the fight was made to “give the belt to Canelo”:
“I just thought – you’re giving Canelo the belt; you do not give Canelo to Callum Smith. “
“Fight week proves it. Walk around talking about Canelo’s pajamas and everything else. “
“It just killed me.”
Gallagher was flawed in saying Smith would beat Canelo with better circumstances to prepare for, but said he believes Liverpudlian will have a much better account of himself tonight.
“I’m not saying Callum can beat Canelo. Callum did well the night with what he had. But there is another version of Callum. “
“I feel that if we had 10 weeks and had a proper match, I’m not saying we won, but Canelo would know that he fought more than he did that night.”
Smith is no longer part of the Gallagher stables and has since moving up to light weight in hopes of becoming the second weight division world champion.
Canelo will be back in the ring in a few weeks, defend his undisputed super-middleweight crown in a three-part match against old nemesis Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17order.
