Buddy McGirt, the new trainer of Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev, talks about Saturday’s rematch with WBO light heavyweight champion Eleider “Storm” Alvarez on Saturday at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys practice facility.

“No, I did not watch the first fight,” said Buddy. “The night that they fought I had a fight in New York. You want to hear something? Whenever I watched tapes of an opponent, as a fighter, I lost. When I watched tapes as a trainer, my fighter lost.

“I watched tape of Meldrick Taylor, and I lost the fight.

“I don’t need to watch tapes. I’m old school. I prepare for anything and everything. If you watch a tape of a guy, and you see something, then you expect it to happen and you wait all night for it, and it doesn’t.

“If you get in a street fight you don’t have any tape on the guy. You have to adjust. So that’s what I go by.

“I have watched quite a few Kovalev fights. I have seen enough of him. Things that he told me how he prepared for the fight and what happened during the fight – that was enough for me to understand what we have to do.

“Sergey told me what went wrong in the fight and I just went from there. I had a guy fight Alvarez, Isaac Chilemba – we got jerked in the decision but it is what it is.

“A lot of people told me that he was difficult to work with, but, he wasn’t. Everyone was telling me this and telling me that and I was like ‘OK,’ and when I got with him everything was gravy.

“I know that he had a strength and conditioning guy, to not only help with strength and conditioning but to help him with his diet – to eat the right foods. He told me how he ate for the last fight and I told him he was crazy. Lot of these fighters, they wait till the last week to lose ten pounds – that’s not healthy.

“He told me what he did wrong then we got in the gym and I said ‘OK Buddy, you can’t really make any big adjustments. He’s been doing this too long.’ So I just kept it simple. You can’t beat the basics. So you just keep it basic and simple, not complicated, and let the rest take care of itself.

“He’s in shape. He’s eating the right foods. His weight is good. So now it’s all up to him.

“There are days that we are in the gym and I say “That’s it.” He says ‘No, I want to do this.” I say no, that’s it. You can do that tomorrow.’ Then I have to sit there and wait for him to leave the gym so he won’t do anything. I know if I left the gym he would do extra. So I have to sit there with him and walk outside with him, then he gets in his car and leaves then I get in my car and leave.

“It was a fun camp. Everything went good, thank God. Now it’s all up to him.

“Teddy Cruz did strength and conditioning. Teddy worked on his diet and monitored his weight.”

(What do you think will happen in the fight?)

“I am excited about the fight just like everybody else. I know he will be champion after this fight And we take it from there.”