Joe Gallagher has criticised the way Paul Butler is being talked about ahead of his huge fight with Naoya Inoue.
Butler, who was elevated from interim to full WBO champion in May, will take on Inoue for the undisputed bantamweight title in Tokyo on December 13. Inoue currently holds the WBA, IBF and WBC titles and is undefeated in 23 fights with 20 knockouts, while Butler has 34 wins and two losses to his name.
The winner of the historic bout is set to become boxing’s first undisputed bantamweight champion in half a century. And Gallagher believes his fighter deserves more respect than he is currently being shown, and what he has already achieved inside the ring deserves more recognition.
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“The way people talk like Paul is going over there and has no chance,” he told the ECHO. “It upsets me a little bit and it upsets me that people don’t have the appetite to talk about what Paul has achieved.
“There is lots of talk about people on the road to undisputed, and here we have a British fighter from the North West going and sitting at the table.
“This isn’t a kid who has been given a ticket from a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory competition to sit there. This is a kid who has earned his right to sit there.
“He’s a two-time champion and was Liverpool’s first two-time world champion. He is coming off one of his greatest career performances against Jonas Sultan in Liverpool.
“Paul is going into the fight in the form of his career. Like I say, we are going in against a very good fighter and he is one of the best pound for pound.
“But we are not sitting here and thinking we will just make weight and turn up and take the first shot and lie on the floor.”
Gallagher then continued, saying: “All my fighters in the past, whether it be Liam Smith vs Canelo, Paul Smith vs Andre Ward, they have all gone in there looking to win.
“Paul Butler is no different. He is training hard for it and sometimes in boxing, and it is the reason we love boxing, there is an underdog story.
“No one expected Buster Douglas to beat Mike Tyson in Japan. I’m not saying we are going to do that, and I would get laughed at for saying that, but we are going there to compete.
“We are not going there to lie down and if Paul does what is asked of him, and if there is a bit of lady luck involved, there is an opportunity.”
And when asked about Inoue, Gallagher replied: “He does a lot of amateur things. His power gets him out of trouble a lot. He is a skilful fighter.
“Like we saw in the second fight with Nonito Donaire, he got cut and he got hurt. But he came back and won. Inoue might have a bad day that day. He might have bad cuts, he might have had a bad argument with the missus, but he might be in a right mood then.
“All we have got to do, and all Paul has got to do, is go in there and give the best Paul Butler that he can be. With a bit of lady luck you never know what might happen.”
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