FRANK BUGLIONI believes the addition of Roy Jones Jnr to Fedor Chudinov’s training team will be a hindrance ahead of his challenge for the Russian’s WBA ‘world’ super-middleweight title.
Buglioni will face the unbeaten Chudinov at the SSE Arena in London on Saturday night [September 26].
Chudinov brought in former four-weight world champion Jones Jnr for the last four weeks of his training camp, which Buglioni fees was a telling move.
“I like Roy Jones but it’s business at the end of the day. It’s a very good sign that they’ve brought him in late notice,” he told Boxing News.
“It’ a doubt in their mind, they’re looking for an edge. These short-term things never work, if you want the results and the success you’ve got to put the hours in, make the sacrifices over a long period of time.
“I think they looked at me and thought it was an easy defence, a payday, then realised it was a mistake and tried to bring Roy Jones in but it’s going to backfire.
“I think it’s a disadvantage. When you bring in a new trainer with four weeks’ notice, you’re putting yourself in two minds.”
The fight was originally scheduled to take place on July 24, but the champion suffered a broken nose in sparring, pushing the contest back to this weekend. While annoyed at first, Frank now sees the benefit of the postponement.
“I was disappointed initially, I was in fantastic shape and feeling confident,” he noted.
“It’s a blessing in disguise though, it’s landed on my brother’s birthday [Peter, who turns 23], we’re very close and it just seems like fate. I’ve never had a stronger feeling about a fight, I’ve seen myself lifting that belt so many times now.”
Chudinov’s team claimed they used Sergey Khomitsky, the only man to beat Buglioni as a professional [RSF 6], as a sparring partner to emulate Frank’s style, which is music to the challenger’s ears.
“I’m double the fighter I was when I fought Khomitsky. I pray that they’ve brought him in for sparring, he fights nothing like me. I was actually going to bring him in because he’s similar to Chudinov but he didn’t want any of it.”
