Japanese title contender Nobuhiro Ishida will depend on his right jab to beat Russian WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog, he said Thursday.
Pirog will defend his belt for the third time against Ishida on Tuesday in Moscow.
Ishida has said he had been working on tactics to beat Pirog at his training camp in Los Angeles, but was coy about the details.
"I can't reveal all my secrets. All I can say is that the right jab will be my main weapon,” he said after arriving in Moscow on Thursday.
Ishida last fought in February, beating U.S. fighter Paul Williams on a unanimous decision to take the vacant WBA International Silver middleweight title, and said the tight schedule had affected his training to face Pirog.
“Despite the fact that I didn’t have much time to prepare, we’ve done everything to come to this bout in excellent condition,” he said.
Ishida’s unorthodox style makes him a tricky opponent for Pirog, the Russian told RIA Novosti on Monday.
“He’s a really tricky boxer, tall, really unorthodox, throws a lot of punches, but not all using his maximum strength,” Pirog said.
Pirog is unbeaten, with 15 knockouts in his 19 professional fights. He took the WBO belt in 2010 by conquering American Daniel Jacobs by way of a fifth-round knockout.
Pirog's last bout was a tenth-round technical knockout of compatriot Gennady Martirosyan in the Russian port city of Krasnodar in September.
Ishida, 36 has won 24 of his 33 fights, scoring nine KOs and losing seven along the way.
