Trainer Adam Booth, the man who led David Haye to cruiser and heavyweight world honours. As well as guiding George Groves to the precipice of his current status. Spoke with Kugan Cassius of iFL TV over the weekend about his latest charge, WBO World Middleweight champion Andy Lee(34-2, 24KO’s).
Lee is set to make a voluntary defence of his title against former title holder Peter Quillin(31-, 22KO’s) on April 11th in Brooklyn New York. Quillin vacated the title for reasons unknown at the tail end of last year. So Lee stepped in to compete for the vacant strap against Matthew Korobov in December, handing the Russian his first professional loss by forcing the ref to step between them in the sixth round.
Korobov was the slight favourite going into that fight, but Quillin represents yet another step up for the Limerick fighter and his trainer/manager. Booth seemed unperturbed by the prospect.
“I never go into a fight not being confident. Very, very confident and I’m looking forward to it. I’m enjoying this time, I’m enjoying working with Andy and the guys, and April 11th is gonna be a wicked fight, it’s gonna be a good fight.”
Lee’s last two outings fit the same description. Against John Jackson last June, Lee was dropped in the opening session and continued to be the target of heavy fire for the next four rounds until he unleashed a perfect right hook from his southpaw stance with his back to the ropes, sending Jackson face first into the canvas for an eternal sleep. His next fight was against Korobov where he was trailing in a close affair until he let loose with the same concussive shot before following up with a ruthless volley to score the TKO victory.
Occasions like that have steeled Booth’s belief that he has the genuine article on his hands.
“As far as I’m concerned I know all I need to know about Andy, and Andy knows what he needs to know about Andy, and he’s at that stage of his career now, he’s a world champion; he wants to fight in big fights against good fighters to prove himself. He’s ready this time, he really is.”
As for the presumption that a victory for Lee over Quillin -given Quillin is still undefeated and represents a genuine threat- would be seen as an upset, Booth’s reply was categorical.
“NO.”
