Is Adam Booth out of his depth?
One interesting side note to all the verbal sparring between the David Haye and Audley Harrison has been the calling into question of the credentials of “The Hayemakers” trainer Adam Booth.
The role of a boxing trainer can be as crucial to a fighter as a football manager is to a successful side. Look at the difference in Amir Khan’s performances since he signed with Freddie Roach or how Mike Tyson declined after splitting with Kevin Rooney.
What Haye has with Booth is a long running relationship with someone he has come up with simultaneously, in other words their successes have been as a result of their collaboration so their careers have run parallel.
There is no reason why this would make Booth a bad or a good cornerman, everyone has to start somewhere, but it is all a learning experience for him as well, something picked up on by Harrison’s trainer Shadeed Suluki.
On Harrison’s website Suluki said “I don’t take anything away from Booth but he’s not at the same level as top trainers like Emanuel Steward and Thell Torrence – he doesn’t know boxing. When we get in the trenches and Haye goes back to his corner and has to make adjustments, will Adam have the answers? There is a big question mark over that.”
Suluki and Booth went head to head on Sky Sports News in an entertaining satellite link last week where Suluki frequently tried to disparage his opposite number only for Booth to brush it off as banter. Hayes trainer told Suluki to look at his years of experience in amateur and professional boxing and told his fast talking rival that he knows nothing about him.
It’s fair to say Suluki was blowing a fair amount of hot air, but what you can’t deny is that he has won a world championship in the form of Lamon Brewster’s surprise victory over Wladimir Klitschko. A pretty impressive achievement when you consider how few times Klitschko has lost.
Haye and Booth’s victories haven’t been quite as difficult, The Hayemaker being a favourite against Nicolay Valuev and John Ruiz in his title victory and defence. Haye clearly sticks stringently to Booth’s tactics as well, keeping his distance from Valuev the whole fight even though he probably could have dashed in and dropped the giant if he had been a bit more adventurous. Valuev is a beast of a man but not a technical boxer and the fact he wobbled him so bad in the 12 makes you wonder if those were the right tactics.
This could be a result of lessons learned against Carl Thompson, which is also a good example of Booth’s lack of experience. Both Haye and Booth were younger and less experienced when Haye went charging in only for Thompson to old-man him out of it. “The Cat” pounced and dropped an exhausted Haye whose corner should have really made sure he held back a bit.
Booth looked rattled after Suluki laid into him and while the American is not at the Steward or Roach level of boxing trainer he is of the old school and has worked with the like of James Toney as well as a world champion and you can bet your last penny that he has spent his whole life living and breathing boxing and knows every trick in the book.
Whereas Booth is Hayes business partner, manager, best friend, confidante and everything else as well as a trainer, a modern incarnation but a very different beast to Suluki.
Haye has complete trust in Booth and will go with him on any decision but what is the real trump card in their armoury is the longevity of their relationship. Regardless of how he trains and the tactics Booth implements he knows Haye both as a person and as a fighter which gives him an advantage on fight day as things progress.
However when you get down to brass tacks it’s all about the fighter and in most people’s books Booths fighter is on another level to Suluki’s, but should it go wrong there will be no surprises to see fingers pointed in Booth’s direction.
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