Adam Booth Article! (Written in Lead up To Ruiz)

Mandanda · Oct 27, 2010

May have been posted before it's not a new article but a indepth and interesting insight. Booth's background isn't that well known to many and i know some posters on here are not to sure of him as a trainer etc. Thought it be interesting for discussion and also a good read :good.

Article from the Guardian.

"We've been through battles in the ring and the boardroom that have bound us together," David Haye says of his relationship with Adam Booth, his trainer, manager, promotional partner and close friend. "We've seen some crazy things, and we've done some pretty smart things, and because of all that we're more than just a boxer and his trainer. We're like brothers. We've got this tight-knit understanding and trust in each other. And, I promise you, understanding and trust are the hardest things to find in boxing."
In 1996, at the Fitzroy Lodge gym in south London, the teenage Haye began to work with Booth, a former amateur boxer and aspiring cornerman who earned his living as a university lecturer.

Over the past 14 years they have forged one of the most intriguing partnerships in the seamy world of boxing. Haye, now 29, and Booth, 41, sidestepped the traditional promoters and hucksters and attempted to control their own future in and outside the ring. In the process they have moved up the divisions and rankings to end up at the top of a dirty pile – where they now own a portion of the divided but still lucrative world heavyweight championship.
Tomorrow night, in Manchester, Haye makes the first defence of his WBA title against the American veteran John Ruiz. It is even more striking that Booth and Haye, through their company Hayemaker, are promoting a fight which, in the likely event of another victory, will set them on a path to immense wealth. The Klitschko brothers, the hulking Vitali and Wladimir, who share the remaining WBC, IBF and WBO championship belts between them, are lurking as title-unifying opponents in multimillion-pound fights for Haye.

"It's all very nice to speculate on the future," Booth says, "but I find the promotional side much less enjoyable than working in the ring. The deal-making and the deal-breaking, the contracts and the lawyers aren't much fun. But I love training. I love working towards a big contest, and the drama of fight night. This is what I've always dreamed of since I was a kid. I didn't start boxing at the age of 11 thinking I wanted to be a promoter or a manager."

Booth was once a decent amateur, who won 40 of his 48 fights and was about to turn pro with Mickey Duff when he broke his leg while playing football. His career was ruined but Booth soon discovered his real calling: as a trainer. "Cornermen, notoriously, don't make much money. You put in a huge amount of work for 10% of your fighter's purse. So if your fighter earns a couple of grand you'll get a few hundred pounds.

That's why most trainers have to work in normal jobs as well.
"When I met David I was lecturing in anatomy and physiology in the day and working at the Fitzroy Lodge at night. I was so keen I asked the head trainer, Mick Carney, if he would give me three of his boxers. Mick agreed and David Haye was one of them. We just clicked. It was great. We adjusted his balance and looked at a few other technical things but, for the most part, I just challenged him to fulfil his natural talent."

Booth's educated and sophisticated character is different to the clichéd old trainer who has spent his life surrounded by gum-shields and spit-buckets. "Adam impressed me a lot," Haye remembers, "because his knowledge was not limited to the gym. He opened up my mind and, even now, he's still the only voice I listen to. Adam is the master-mind."
Booth is so consumed by his work that, sometimes, he appears aloof. Yet, when he has the time to reveal his passion for training, he is engaging. "I love everything about it.

I love the way I need to study how certain fighters do certain things – their movement, rhythm, timing, psychology. The very geometry of moving around a ring fascinates me. I'm obsessed with it. The only downside is that the business gets in the way of my obsession. It irritates me that my attention has to be deflected by all these tedious details outside the ring. But we need to sort them out ourselves because we don't trust anyone else."

Haye and Booth were fortunate that, early in their professional partnership, they won a BBC contract. That deal allowed them to play off one promoter against the other as they worked with different companies. And as they learnt how to identify the traps and pitfalls that make boxing such a devious business, they prepared the launch of their own promotional outfit.
"We're at the point," Haye says, "where Hayemaker are building the careers of other boxers. We've got a promising guy like George Groves [who is unbeaten after eight fights and will challenge for the Commonwealth super-middleweight title tomorrow night] and a few others who could go somewhere. That's why, even when my career is over, Adam and I will stay in the business. We've built up something that, in the cut-throat world of boxing, feels unique."

Booth, who assumes most of the workload, sounds less enamoured than Haye with a dark and tangled business. "Am I falling out of love with boxing? The best I can say is that it's a business full of characters. The majority of them aren't pleasant. But, because I'm a trainer who can read a contract and understand business, I've assumed the responsibilities. David also works alongside me when mapping out a clear path through a complicated business. We're a real team."

Haye's role outside the ring is primarily that of an entertaining salesman – a born hustler who can peddle a fight through his easy patter and amusing soundbites. "The size of our purse is now determined by the number of pay-per-view hits," Haye explains, "and so it's my job to go out there and drum up interest in an attention-grabbing way."
Booth and Haye are both eloquent when addressing the stark realities of boxing. Facing up to a potentially brutal contest tomorrow night,

Haye says: "Just before a fight, as the ring empties, you can feel it. There is danger and loneliness all around you. Soon it's just the three of you in there. The referee, your opponent and you. You're in a very lonely moment then. But, strangely, that's when I feel most comfortable. The ring becomes my office and I go to work."
It is harder for Booth, on the outside looking in, and he describes all he went through after Haye lost his only fight, at cruiserweight, to Carl Thompson in 2004. "I came home that night and tore myself apart.

I couldn't understand how I let the fight go on until the fifth round because I knew David was finished after the second. He had hurt Thompson for the first two rounds but he had nothing left. It was only when I watched the fight again that I understood. It took Thompson until the fifth round to realise David was gone – and it was only then that he really hit him. And, straightaway, I pulled David out. Enough was enough."

Booth hesitates when asked if he briefly lost confidence in both himself and Haye? "A loss like that is painful for any trainer and boxer who cares about what they do. But we learned such a valuable lesson I wouldn't change it for the world. If David hadn't been stopped by Thompson, I doubt he would be world heavyweight champion. The good thing about David is that he can deal with the truth. He admits he's not the most durable heavyweight in the world. But he says, 'I'm one of the quickest and most dangerous and I'm going to get you before you get me.'

"His ability to take a shot has also improved dramatically. When he gets hit now he doesn't stiffen up. He relaxes. And the key to taking a punch is down to your state of mind and, secondly, staying relaxed when you're being hit. He can do that now. But, listen, anything can happen. One punch and it could all be over.

"So the moment my foot hits the step, as I climb out of the ring, is very hard. It's like letting go of your children. You spend all their early years trying to protect them but, eventually, they need to walk away into the big bad world. And all you can do is hope they won't get hurt.
"It's the same with David. All through the build-up I'm doing everything I can to help him protect himself. And when I leave him alone in the ring it's as if there's nothing more I can do. But, of course, as soon as the first bell rings I'm watching intently from the corner.

I see everything in slow motion and I study how he and his opponent are operating. And when he comes back to the corner I can help him again."
Booth exhales deeply, as if he has just stepped back to examine the intensity of his experience. "I'm so alive in that moment. And David is functioning in the highest state imaginable. We're living those moments together – and it's like nothing else."

It sounds as if Booth is lost in boxing. How will he ever find a way out of this grimy but addictive old business? "I have three daughters and another on the way," he says. "The eldest is 18, the second is almost 15 and then I have a little girl of 18 months with the last one due in May. We're having another girl – so I'll soon have four daughters."
Booth suddenly laughs. "Maybe that's the solution. Once David and me are done, it'll be time to go from boxing into girl-band management. It would be one way to get rid of this obsession."

Click to expand...

diagnosismurder · Oct 27, 2010

Interesting that he talk about haye finishing he will finish it seem they have something special between them

albertobult · Oct 27, 2010

Adam and haye are special super team together

Primadonna Kool · Oct 27, 2010

I think its a great partnership, they where made for each other.

Much like Billy Graham and Ricky Hatton.

dee-z-r · Oct 27, 2010

interesting

brown bomber · Oct 28, 2010

Great read

scouse red man · Oct 28, 2010

Excellent read.

Two very articulate guys.

Just wish they would use that intelligence to good effect and get in proper, honest discussions with the Klits and get the fights signed.

dftaylor · Oct 28, 2010

scouse red man said: ↑

Excellent read.

Two very articulate guys.

Just wish they would use that intelligence to good effect and get in proper, honest discussions with the Klits and get the fights signed.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure anyone's been dishonest in that fiasco...

scouse red man · Oct 28, 2010

dftaylor said: ↑

I'm not sure anyone's been dishonest in that fiasco...
Click to expand...

I use the word HONEST in a "meet in the middle and get the fights on" sense as opposed to the "I deserve more money than you and I can't have it so I'm taking my ball home" sense.

HONEST as in being honest to themselves and realizing that the only fights of interest in a lacklustre division are Haye vs Wlad or Haye vs Vit and doing their level best at the negotiating table even if it means backing down slightly over certain demands in order to put the show on.

I fully understand wanting the best deal for yourself or your client but if the long term aim is to prove yourself as the best, then surely a little lee-way can be given in order to get it on?

White Tiger · Oct 28, 2010

Booth looks in good shape for a guy past 40.

I didnt realise he was that old.

achillesthegreat · Oct 28, 2010

mentally they click much like ricky and graham. technically i think booth is rubbish much like billy.

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Adam Booth Article! (Written in Lead up To Ruiz)

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Adam Booth Article! (Written in Lead up To Ruiz)

Mandanda SkillspayBills Full Member

diagnosismurder Boxing Addict Full Member

albertobult Active Member Full Member

Primadonna Kool Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

dee-z-r Active Member Full Member

brown bomber 2010 Poster of the Year Full Member

scouse red man Member Full Member

dftaylor Writer, fanatic Full Member

scouse red man Member Full Member

White Tiger Boxing Addict banned

achillesthegreat FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE Full Member