Kevin Barry is confident his charge is ready to face the wrath of a boisterous home crowd when Joseph Parker defends his WBO heavyweight title against Hughie Fury in Manchester on Sunday morning (NZ time).
The Kiwi heavyweight is foreign to unfriendly reception, having fought 20 of 23 fights in New Zealand or Samoa.
But Barry said the 25-year-old won't be fazed by Manchester locals cheering on their hometown lad.
"It's going to be hostile out there," Barry told Newshub.
"We expect that, we know that the Manchester fans are very supportive of their locals and I expect them to really get in behind Hughie.
"I think that there will be a lot of jeers and boos when we come out, but that is what we trained and prepared for."
Parker arrived in Manchester Wednesday afternoon (local time), and took part in a low-key open workout which included two interesting observers.
Fury and his trainer Peter Fury were checking out the Kiwi in action, but would have left disappointed as Parker's light routine was a glorified shadow boxing session.
Parker said they expected the Furys to show up on a scouting mission, but joked it was probably a waste of their time.
"I guess he wanted to see what we might be doing good and doing bad, but we didn't give him much so there was not much to see."
Twenty-three-year-old Fury was quoted in a local Manchester newspaper as saying he would have no problem in securing a knockout win over the champion.
However the south Auckland native has similar plans in store for the undefeated Brit as he looks to make a statement in the backyard of the heavyweight crop.
"I back my power and I back my chin and my speed.
"I back me being in the ring giving him a KO. He can talk and give himself confidence with what he says but we will see come Saturday night," Parker told Newshub's Ross McNaughton.
"We have always wanted to come here and fight and this is our chance to prove what we are made of.
"It's a chance to show what we can do and how we operate and it's time for us to dominate."
Britain is currently the home of heavyweight kingpin Anthony Joshua as well as title contenders Tony Bellew, Dillian Whyte, David Haye and the one-minute retired, next-minute not, Tyson Fury.
Plenty of options will present themselves to the WBO champion should he navigate the Hughie Fury roadblock, but now is not the time to be contemplating those.
"Let's just focus on Saturday and then after that we will sit down and discuss who is next. There are a lot of options here and we are looking forward to being part of his heavyweight scene.
"But only after Saturday we will discuss future options."
A win would give Parker free rein on who they fight next as it will be a voluntary title defence.
Parker v Fury is available on Sky Arena, 8am Sunday September 24.
Newshub.
