Callum Smith too good to have possible mega-money Canelo shock among British boxing’s biggest upsets

Smith's task would be a tall enough order even if he had a full camp to prepare for the fight. Yes he might have been in the gym training and keeping himself in decent shape but there's a world of difference between training for a fight when you know you're going to be facing an elite opponent on a certain date and training when you don't know who or even if you're going to be fighting at all even if you think there's a chance you might be. He only found out he had the fight about an hour/an hour and a half before it was announced and you can bet your bottom dollar that sneaky deck-stacking ginger necromancer knew about it weeks in advance of that because giving his opponents short camps and weakening them with rehydration clauses is how he rolls.

The late notice hardly gave Smith anytime to rope in sparring partners, especially quality ones who have a similar style to Clenelo or can mimic his style and even more so during these difficult pandemic times we live in. For instance, one of Joyce's sparring partner has also been sparring his opponent Dubois in preparation for their fight on Saturday. Trust me, I been involved in the boxing game for most of my life and I've never heard of that happening before.

And obviously it's not like Smith is going to be able to secure the win unless he sparks Clen out cold or dominates every round so thoroughly Clen's judges cannot get away with taking it out of his hands.

My main man Joe Gallagher said he wants a British ref or at least a British judge for the fight but I told him on the blower the other day that he'd better forget about a British ref because that ain't happening in a million years and he wants a British judge he's going to have to push like crazy for that and maybe even threaten to pull Smith out of the fight if they won't concede to that.