Anyone interested in hearing what happened and why Adam Booth training George Groves its worth giving Tris Dixons recent podcast a listen to. I have watched or heard countless interviews with Groves over the years and don't ever recall him going into detail let alone this much detail on the subject. The long and short of it according to Groves, Booth was Groves manager and trainer, (surely a conflict there of some sort), he was getting 25% as manager according to Groves and I assume at least 10% -15% for training Groves, so Booth was taking at least 35%-40% of Groves purse which is scandalous. Week before the announcement of the 1st Froch fight, (Groves 1st world title fight), Booth decides he is not going to train groves anymore and sends him a text message telling him this. Don't know the full reasons why Booth decided not to train him anymore although groves alludes to them having fall outs over the years. So Booth decides he is not training him anymore, leaves him without a trainer just before the biggest fight of his life, but decides he will stay on as Groves manager so that he can continue receiving the 25% of Groves purse. Groves also alludes to Booth being a nightmare to work with, moody etc, I was never sure what to make of Booth as I was never sure if his onscreen persona was an act, but to drop Groves as his trainer and there being a clear falling out between the two but decide to continue taking 25% of his purse is a downright shitty move in my opinion, booth having his cake and eating it.
I have disliked Booth since the first time I seen him interviewed. He comes across as arrogant, smarmy, uppity and a pseudo-intellectual. "A face that you'd love to punch." I don't normally read much into hearsay, but Groves' account doesn't exactly surprise me.
You can tell from watching Groves account and knowing both Groves and Booth, that what he says happened is exactly what happened. All Booth cared about at the time was Haye.
I listened to this and didn’t portray booth in a good light at all. Have to say, I was a massive groves fan but was a little shocked at how unprofessional his set up was really. Accused paddy of smoking dope in lead up to world title fights etc
groves fans disappeared as quickly as they came very very nearly became the nearly man without that russian he never holds a strap
I thought Groves wanted to pay Booth a flat fee instead of a percentage for the 1st Froch fight, which is how the fall out started.
Feel for Groves on this. Hopefully will make others think long and hard before getting in to bed with that sort of person
Great Interview with Groves. Always thought he was a bit of a diva but listening to how he came back from the froch fights and even had a few sessions with McCraken spoke volumes to him as as a person and how bad he wanted that world title.
The 25% managers fee and 10% trainers fee is a default, set by the board. Booth is only taking what he is entitled to and has to earn a living like anyone else.As long as he's doing a good job then them same % have to be paid out no matter who trains or manages him. George could of taken Booth to the board when he stopped training him the week before the 1st froch fight and claimed dereliction of duty as a manager cos he left him without a trainer running into the fight, it's the managers job to make sure all the training is taken care of and he would have a good case leading into his 1st world title defence and getting dropped like that. It would be interesting to hear Booths side tbh. Booth has had the finger pointed at him in the past and there's not usually any smoke without fire and also George does seem like a nice guy. Not nice for him to get treated like that if it's all correct
I knew about how shoddy Paddy was for that Badou Jack fight. Having to ask Groves’ Mrs what round they were in and turning up for a pad session in flip flops. But didn’t know about the smoking and that’s ridiculously unprofessional. Groves could have failed a drug test maybe as a result of the passive smoke. No surprise that Fitzpatrick hasn’t been seen in any big TV fights since Okolie knocked out Watkins.
That was always my understanding too. And would surprise me if the truth is in between. My guess groves went to booth with a flat fee scenario knowing he was about to get a massive payday, booth said no and they argued. Groves said he’ll go elsewhere hence why he used paddy who must of been on peanuts considering his low profile at the time. Booth told groves to do one and he’s not releasing him from his management contract out of spite. mid booth was taking those percentages across the board I’m sure kelly and conlan wouldn’t still be working with him.
Booth seems very switched on in the boxing industry to the money, others aren't, on the flip side he improves most of his fighters and they do well out of him.
