MTK boss allays fears over Gary Cornish's coach change ahead of British title fight
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GARY Cornish’s last-minute change of coach will not have a detrimental effect on his British heavyweight title preparations.
That is the view of his manager Sam Kynoch, who said Cornish felt he needed to make the switch from previous trainer Billy Nelson.
Highland heavyweight Cornish has spent the last week training in Preston with Johnney Roye, who has worked with WBO heavyweight title contender Hughie Fury.
Kynoch said there will be no major changes ahead of Cornish’s date with Sam Sexton in Edinburgh on Friday and for the moment the arrangement is purely for this fight.
Cornish has finished his camp for the Sexton bout and returns to Scotland tomorrow for the pre-fight press conference, followed by the weigh-in on Thursday.
“It’s a late change, which isn’t ideal, but he feels it just wasn’t working out and he’s got to do what’s right for him,” said Kynoch. “Johnney will be in his corner on Friday and he’s not going to change too much in the two-and-a-half weeks before the fight.
“Johnney is an excellent coach and will just work on refining a few things and making sure Gary is in the right frame of mind for the fight.”
It was a drastic adjustment to make with the biggest fight of his career looming but Cornish has shown he is not afraid to step outside his comfort zone, if it is what is best for his career.
He shelved his trade as a joiner at the end of last year to move to Glasgow and train full-time, signing with Kynoch and MTK Scotland and training at Nelson’s gym in Airdrie.
Nelson worked with him for one fight, his points win over Kamil Sokolowski in February, before a back injury to Sexton forced the postponement of the original title fight in July.
For the time being it is a temporary arrangement and further discussions will be had following Friday’s bout. However, given he has already moved once, Kynoch sees no reason why he cannot do the same again if he feels it is what is best for him.
“He’s at a juncture in his career where if something isn’t working, he can’t just sit on his hands,” said Kynoch.
“He has to be pro-active and make a change.
“After this fight, we’ll sit down and take a good look at it. If things go well, he has already moved to train in Airdrie from Inverness, so I don’t see why he couldn’t travel further to Preston.
“In the first instance, Gary just needed someone to tide him over for this fight.”
Merkinch heavyweight Cornish has a good rapport with Fury and his camp, having sparred in Manchester earlier this year, ahead of the original Sexton fight.
It has been a year of change for Cornish, who was at a career cross-roads towards the end of last year. His contract with long-time promoter Tommy Gilmour came to an end and he chose to move away from his Inverness base, where he was trained by Andy Young and Paul Geddes while combining the sport with his day job.
Doors open at 5.30pm on Friday at Edinburgh’s Meadowbank Arena, with Cornish’s bout with Sexton the headline contest on the bill.
His MTK stablemate and sparring partner Stephen Simmons is also fighting for a title, with the IBF European Cruiserweight title on the line for him against Simon Barclay.
