Darnell Pierce, Darius Fulghum's trainer, believes his fighter will establish himself among the best in the super middleweight division on Friday.

Fulghum faces Bektemir “Bek the Bully” Melikuziev on Friday at the Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. The fight is a WBA super middleweight title eliminator that will be broadcast on DAZN.

Fulghum won the 2020 Olympic Trials at heavyweight. He was unable to qualify for the Olympics due to restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic. Fulghum, 14-0 (12 KOs), turned professional in December 2021 and is working his way down to the super middleweight division. Pierce was candid when asked about Melikuziev, as he believes Fulghum's mentality and mental focus will be the key to victory. 

“Good question,” Pierce told BoxingScene when asked his thoughts on Melikuziev. “I think [Melikuziev] can be dangerous in spots, but I don't believe he's the complete fighter that Darius is, and that's why a lot of his training and a lot of this camp, has been more about mental focus, discipline and locking in without having those dead moments of falling asleep in the ring.”

Melikuziev, 15-1 (10 KOs), turned professional in 2019 to a lot of excitement. A fast-tracked fighter from Shoimbek, Uzbekistan, who trained with the Diaz Brothers in Indio, California. In 2021, that excitement was halted as Gabriel Rosado knocked him out. Melikuziev, now on an eight-fight winning streak, is coming off an underwhelming split-decision victory over David Stevens in November. For Melikuziev, he needs a statement that he belongs at the top of the division, as most believed he would end up there early in his professional days. Pierce isn’t paying any attention to Melikuziev’s last fight.

 “You don't prepare for the worst version of a person that I see. I prepare for the best possible version of the person,” Pierce said. “So, rather than training, hoping that he will fatigue, we train knowing that he has the potential to be dangerous early. So, we're training for that guy more than we're training for the guy who might gas out later in the fight.”

Being an underdog is nothing new to Fulghum, who was the No. 8 seed at the Olympic Trials when he won the tournament. Still, Fulghum, 28, of Houston has never been the underdog in a pro fight. Pierce sees this as a moment for Fulghum to break out and make a name for himself.

“I've been waiting on the opportunity for Darius to be the underdog, because I feel like the boxing world, outside of the small circle of people who are really into boxing, they don't know Darius’ name,” Pierce said. “I think this is the first time he'll be in the ring with an opponent that, if he goes out and asserts himself the same way that he has in the rest of his fights in his professional career, it'll finally put the boxing world on notice and say, ‘Okay, we might need to pay attention to figure out who this guy is, because he going to be here a while.’”