Highly regarded trainer, Manny Robles has confirmed he is currently working with Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith after rumors had circulated which had left Smith’s former trainer, Joe Gallagher, in the dark.
“His team and Liam reached out to me, they found interest in working with me and now they’re in California.” Robles told proboxing-fans.com.
“He’s in the gym now, we’ve been working together for the last few weeks. He’s getting adjusted to the climate, the training, the time change and things are going well, things are going really well.”
‘Beefy’ has recently had a fight date announced in Russia for April 8th to face undefeated Magomed Kurbanov. When asked if he will be in the corner for Smith’s upcoming fight Robles responded, “that’s the plan.”
Manny discussed the task at hand for his new charge fighting in his opponents backyard, “we’re walking into the lion’s den.
“We’re fighting a Russian in Russia, so we have definitely got to make a statement and try to go out there and win clearly. If we can get a knockout then great but if not then let’s hope the judges give us a fair shake. May the best man win.”
Robles does feel that his fighter will be the better man in the ring come fight night.
“I believe that Liam Smith definitely has the experience over the opponent. Liam’s a former world champion, he’s fought Canelo [Alvarez], he’s fought [Jaime] Munguia. He lost in both of those fights but I believe he learnt a great deal, I believe you learn a lot more from your defeats than you do from your victories.
“Liam is a more seasoned, experienced fighter now and that’s something our opponent does not have.”
The 49-year-old trainer is best known for taking Andy Ruiz Jr to world title glory after they shocked the world by defeating Anthony Joshua in 2019, and Robles will be hoping Smith will be his next world champion.
“Absolutely [he can become a world champion again], he’s not old, he’s had experience but he’s still a relatively young fighter.
“How bad does the fighter want it, that’s the question, we’re going to take it one fight at a time. Hopefully, God willing, we will get through this fight on April 8th we get through the fight with a win, the victory, and we will be able to move on and hopefully get a shot at the world title soon.”