Martin Murray is convinced stablemate Rocky Fielding can tactically out-manoeuvre Callum Smith when the unbeaten duo fight for the vacant British super-middleweight title at Liverpool’s Echo Arena on November 7.
Murray and Fielding train with Oliver Harrison in Salford and the St Helens man says he's seen Fielding improve day-by-day in the gym, predicting he will come out on top in the clash of the unbeaten super-middleweights.
"It's going to be down to who has the best game-plan and who can stick to it - and they have the perfect combination of Oliver's game-plan and Rocky being the right man to execute it," said Murray.
"I've seen him and Oliver working intensely over the last few weeks and it looks like it is paying off. We have done a bit of tech-sparring together to work on some stuff and you can see that the game-plan is working for him.
"It's a tough fight and full credit to them for taking it. They could've easily avoided each other and gone down different paths but they are putting their uneaten records on the line and that's brilliant. I think it'll be a tough 12-round hard fight, I don't think it will be one-way traffic at all, they will both have spells of success in there."
Smith, who has earned points victories against Christopher Rebrasse and Nikola Sjekloca in his last two fights, is regarded by most as the favourite this weekend but Murray expects Fielding to be at his best and thinks it will be a close fight.
"Callum is a top fighter, there's no disputing that," added Murray. "He might be a slight favourite, it looks 50-50 to many people but a lot of folks just favour Callum.
"I don't know whether that's because he's maybe got a bigger profile or they've seen more of him on Sky Sports, but I train with Rocky every day and I know what he is capable of, and if you ask Scott Quigg or Anthony Crolla who they think will win and they will say Callum because they see what he can do every day.
"I know though that when it comes to tough fights, Rocky raises his game, and I think that he will raise his game on November 7. There's a lot of pressure on them both coming from Liverpool and taking each other on, Liverpool has the best fights fans in England in my opinion and had one of them avoided the other then they would have copped a lot of stick, so they've chosen to collide head on and it's a great fight for everyone involved.
"There's going to be a loser but they are both young enough to come again - and if it's a good fight, they can do it again.
"I know the Smith family well and they are all top lads. I'll be ringside on the night and I will be nervous for Rocky, but I am confident he can do the job."
Saturday's card features Scotty Cardle defending his British lightweight title against local favourite Sean Dodd, while Ricky Burns faces Josh King for the WBO world lightweight title. Prizefighter champion Tom Doran is also in action, fighting Rod Smith in an eliminator for the British middleweight title.
