prior to the bout, hamed began having problems with his lifelong trainer brendan ingle stemming from unflattering comments ingle had made about hamed in ingle's book "the paddy and the prince." hamed lashed out at ingle in an interview prior to the fight, labeling ingle a "judas" and claiming that he had "brainwashed" him. despite the pre-fight tension, ingle remained involved in hamed's preparation for mccullough, though ingle's two sons, john and dominic handled the training and ingle instead took a "supervisor" role for the fight.