By Edward Chaykovsky
Trainer Joe Gallagher has high hopes for his fighter, WBO junior middleweight world champion Liam Smith (23-0, 13KOs).
On Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas - Smith will defend his world title against Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs). The venue will have over 40,000 fans in attendance, and most of them will be Mexican fans in support of Canelo.
Smith is a big underdog in the fight - mostly due to his lack of top level experience.
Gallagher is already thinking ahead. He believes that a victory over Canelo will lure out retired pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26KOs).
Mayweather retired last September after dominating Andre Berto over twelve rounds. How sure is Gallagher of getting Mayweather's attention? He says there is a "90%" probability that Mayweather - or someone from his team - will call him to discuss fight number "50" for next year. Mayweather is the only fighter to defeat Canelo. He easily outboxed the Mexican fighter over twelve rounds three years ago at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Gallagher told Sky Sports in an exclusive interview: "All we are thinking about is Saul Alvarez but if we pull this off on Saturday then for the next fight, I'd expect a call from Floyd Mayweather.
"Floyd will be sat there watching and think: 'There's only two people who have beaten Alvarez. One's me and one's Liam Smith so I'll give him a date for fight No 50 next year. It just gives you a sense of the enormity of the fight and the sense of occasion we're involved in. If we win this, there's a 90% chance that the phone will go from Team Mayweather.
"We don't want to look ahead but it could be a life-changing fight for Smith. He'd be set up for life financially and these opportunities have to be grabbed with both hands. Liam is 36 minutes away from changing his life and becoming a superstar in world boxing."