Adam Booth on How Pact Came Together With Billy Joe Saunders
After the announcement that Adam Booth was confirmed as Billy Joe Saunders’ new trainer, many welcomed the news of the new partnership and the decision was widely-praised.
Towards the end of 2016, the WBO world middleweight champion split with Jimmy Tibbs and a few weeks ago tweeted that he was the latest addition to Booth’s growing stable.
“He called me, we had a little chat and he asked if he could have a meeting with me,” Booth told iFL TV. “Billy came down, we did a little session. We seemed to get on very well and understood each other. He’s a smart fella, and a very shrewd fella - a clever fighter. We talked about what we both believed I could help with, and that it could make a significant enough difference to start working together.”
Saunders became the WBO world middleweight champion after beating Booth-trained Andy Lee in December 2015. The London coach wanted to confirm that a link-up with Saunders would not harm his working relationship with Lee, who still fights at Middleweight.
“I said I’d speak to Andy first - I knew he wanted to fight again. It was interesting enough for me to consider, and Andy was fully supportive of it straight away. [Normally] it’s the other way around that the losing fighter will go and work with the winning trainer. I respected that about Billy - the fact that he could look past that.”
Last week Saunders teased fans about his next opponent, with full details set to be announced soon. Booth is hopeful the 27-year-old can earn the mega-fight he has been yearning for.
“He’s trying to tidy up some frustrations, trying to get a big, meaningful fight. Hopefully he can get that nailed down within the next week and we can start focusing on a couple of dates,” he continued.
“I hope he gets the fights he wants. Personally, I believe there are big fights for Billy at middle and super-middle, but time will tell.”
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