Former light heavyweight champion Joe Smith Jr. is aiming to pile on the pounds as he prepares to fight Gilbert ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez this weekend.
The pair move up from 175lbs to fight live on DAZN as they look to move themselves into contention for a title fight at cruiserweight.
With Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev circling one another for the undisputed status at light heavyweight a move up in divisions could help deliver a title to one or both of the fights.
For Smith, he has wanted to add to his frame for some time.
“Personally, I have wanted to start bulking myself up and start moving up,” Smith explained to BoxingScene.com. “That’s really what I wanted. That’s why I was trying to get these big fights at light heavyweight as quickly as possible.
“For my age and light heavyweight, I’ve been fighting at 175 since I was 16 years old. It’s time to move up.”
The maximum weight that the fighters can come in at on the Friday weigh-in is 193lbs, but Smith hopes to come in bigger on the Saturday
“The weight is 193 for the fight. I would like to be a solid 200 (on fight night),” he continued. “I don’t want to bulk up too much and be sluggish in there. I will make the weight, add a little more after we weigh in but nothing too crazy.
“It’s a big relief not stressing about my weight every day in camp. It’s good. I eat as much carbs as I want now. Obviously, I stay away from the sugar and the crap food. But basically, I can eat anything I want and I still feel good.”
Smith sees little chance of dropping back in weight now, saying: “If the opportunity came to me where I could fight one of those two guys again [Bivol and Beterbiev] and everything was right, I’d do it. But I believe that once I move up to cruiserweight I’m there for good.”