Boxing
World champion's trainer says opponents think his fighter is 'weakest link'
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O’Shaquie Foster’s trainer believes that he inspires his opponents to outperform, making his life harder.
Foster is the current WBC junior lightweight champion, and he fights on Saturday ( live on ESPN in the US ) on the undercard for the Shakur Steveson vs. Artem Harutyunyan fight in Newark, New Jersey.
He will be fighting Robson Conceicao in his third title defence, and Benton is far from complacent.
“Good fighter, dangerous fight,” Benton told BoxingScene . “He's relentless in some ways, but he's tricky, too. He's not scared. He'll throw from kind of weird spots. It’s a good fight, I always look at these guys as they’re always going to be their best performance against ‘Shock.’
“Guys get up for it. They are fighting for the world title, and maybe they feel like Shock’s the weakest link,” Benton said. “But they definitely get up for him.”
He thinks that Conceicao is an experienced and difficult opponent.
“He can go all day,” Benton continued. “His losses are to all world champions, and one of those is controversial. He's dangerous. He's a dangerous guy, but that’s where we're at, and at this point in our career, it's just the way it is. We gotta be ready for everything.”
Foster’s last run-out was against Abraham Nova in February, and despite winning, there were concerns over his performance, and Benton sees mitigating reasons for that.
“He just didn't do everything he could have done,” he said. “The third round, he got elbowed in the bicep and his thumb [was hurt], and it was a lot going on for him to fight through that. He also had the foot injury before the fight.”
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