By Terence Dooley
Adam Booth enjoyed a stirring 2014 after guiding Curtis Woodhouse to a shock British title win then taking a rejuvenated Andy Lee to the WBO middleweight title in December. Woodhouse out-pointed Darren Hamilton in February to secure the British light-welterweight title; Lee stopped Matt Korobov in the sixth-round in Las Vegas in what Booth described as his crowning achievement as a coach.
Booth also enjoyed success with George Groves and David Haye in recent years, but won’t work with Groves again and is unlikely to feature should Haye decide to end his sabbatical. The 46-year-old trainer guided Groves to the British and Commonwealth titles only to split with “Saint” George prior to his November 2013 challenge to Super middleweight titlist Carl Froch. Haye and Booth maintained their independence en route to cruiserweight and WBA heavyweight title triumphs yet are unlikely to team up against should Haye dust off his boxing gloves, according to Booth.
“I honestly don’t know, I haven’t spoken to David for some time as I’ve been deeply ensconced in what I’m doing with Andy and my new stable of fighters,” said Booth when speaking to me for the February edition of Boxing Monthly. “It’s not something I’ve thought about. You can never say never, but I certainly don’t have any plans to be working with David.”
“You can never say to someone how they should live their life,” he added when asked if Haye should draw a line under his career given his recent run of injuries. “If someone wants to do something for whatever reason then they should have the right to do it. As long as he’s fit and healthy, it’s his choice.”
As for Groves, a managerial dispute was settled in the aftermath of Groves’s ninth-round TKO defeat to Froch yet it didn’t lead to a full reconciliation.
“I’ve never relied on the opinions of others for what I do or the decisions I make,” stated Booth, who politely declined to comment when asked exactly why they split.
“When he boxed Froch (in fight one), it wasn’t that long after we stopped working together. I commentated on radio and felt for him that night. He wasn’t given the chance to prove he could continue due to a slightly early stoppage [from referee Howard Foster].”
He added: “I don’t regret the decision I made with George. I’ve moved on, he’s moved on and his career has. We met a few days later to solve a dispute, which we did, and I haven’t seen him since then as I focused elsewhere. I’m happy with my path, I try not to look back. There’s no outstanding issues between us—that was that.”
The full and frank story of how Booth ended up as a trainer, manager and promoter is available in the February issue of Boxing Monthly, click on the following link to order a copy:
