BOXING: WORLD HEAVY WEIGHT TITLE FIGHT: JAMIE JACKSONlooks at the CVs of the men in the corners of David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko
WHEN ADAM Booth sends out David Haye in Hamburg on Saturday night to face Wladimir Klitschko in a seismic world heavyweight title bout, he begins the sternest test of his abilities as a trainer.
In the opposing corner of the IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazinechampion is Emanuel Steward (67), the wise old man of the canvas. Steward trained in the same Detroit gym as the great Joe Louis, commencing an amateur career that peaked with a 1963 Golden Gloves title at bantamweight, before eight years later answering a calling that he heeds four decades on.
Steward’s 31-strong list of world champions includes Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.
Booth, who is 42, cannot boast a similar CV. His collection of world prizefighters starts and ends with Haye, who holds the WBA belt. Booth’s hinterland is more varied, though, including stints as a personal trainer and gym instructor, and as a lecturer in anatomy and physiology. As with Steward, Booth boxed as an amateur, though less successfully: losing two of 42 fights, and winning no notable titles.
With his inferior boxing pedigree Booth walks into the ring on Saturday with Haye as the classic pretender hoping to pull off a strategic coup over the grizzled, seen-it-all-before Steward.
On Tuesday, the battle went public. During the build-up to the fight Haye has appeared twitchy. The word is he is nervous as never before. Boxing’s off-stage generals arm their pugilists with the training and tactical smarts, while searching for any psychological weakness that can help disrobe opponents. So Steward began the week by saying: “Haye thinks we’re worried about him? That is a joke. I have never seen Wladimir in such a great state of mind. I feel the same way I did before Lennox Lewis’s fight with Mike Tyson, or Tommy Hearns before his fight with (Roberto) Durán. And when I feel this good, everything’s okay.”
As a message to Haye, and Booth, this was evocative. Each knows boxing history: Hearns was the first to stop Durán, destroying him in two rounds. Lewis knocked out Tyson in eight, effectively ending his career.
Booth’s own entry into the jousting appeared to reflect Haye’s nervousness. On Monday he complained about the referee, Genaro Rodriguez. “The WBO are pushing Rodriguez very aggressively. Can we guess why?” he asked.
Booth’s claim is that Rodriguez’s familiarity with Klitschko has bred a cosy relationship. The Chicago official has refereed Klitschko four times, three of which have been world title victories. Yet while the previous occasion was his knockout of Eddie Chambers in March 2010, seven years had passed since the previous time.
Then, Corrie Sanders became the third man to defeat Klitschko, stopping him in two rounds on Klitschko’s home patch in Germany. This hardly concurs with Booth’s argument that: “In all the Wladimir fights which this referee has been in charge of, he’s allowed all kinds of fouls.”
Booth is crafty, though. This may be a genuine complaint tried on just in case it causes Rodriguez to think twice. Or it could be a smokescreen, planned carefully to offer the impression of weakness.
While Steward has produced a long line of world champions from his Kronk Gym in Chicago, Booth has proved he can plot smartly, and successfully. From his training centre in Vauxhall, south London, last month he guided George Groves to a notable upset over James DeGale, which ended the Olympic middleweight champion’s unbeaten record.
Since meeting Haye, then 16, at the Fitzroy Lodge Amateur Boxing Club in Lambeth, Booth has ironed out his laziness while honing a fast-punching, quick-moving style. Booth’s ability to work out opponents is matched by knowledge of his own man. The sole defeat on Haye’s record came against a 40-year-old Carl Thompson in 2004. After Haye dominated early on Thompson hurt him badly in the fifth, and Booth threw in the towel.
If Booth acted prematurely – Haye might have survived as he was stopped in the round’s closing seconds – he drew no resentment from Haye. He stuck with Booth, and four years later he became the undisputed world cruiserweight champion after 22 fights, when stopping Enzo Maccarinelli.
Booth, studying how Steward has honed Klitschko’s style since joining with him in 2004, will note how he has made him more defensive. Klitschko still, essentially, relies on his 6ft 5in height, 81-inch reach, and thudding jab to bully opponents.
Haye derided this approach as “robotic” on Tuesday, saying he would make Klitschko “malfunction”. He added: “Myself and Adam Booth have plotted the perfect gameplan to beat Klitschko. He still gets stuck in his way. That’s his downfall – he can’t change, can’t adapt like I can.”
Haye has to walk this talk. When winning his WBA belt in November 2009, against the 7ft 2in Nikolai Valuev, Haye carried out Booth’s tactics with precision. In training Booth had worn bespoke platform shoes to replicate Valuev’s height, and coached Haye to land quick, inside bombs before escaping danger.
In 2008 Booth told Observer Sport Monthly: "Talented individuals in sporting history have a background of complacency. The way we deal with that with David is constantly putting stress in front of him, the type of opponent, the type of fight."
On Saturday Booth hopes he has prepared his man for the ultimate stress, the ultimate opponent, the ultimate fight.
* G uardian Service
