Ciarán Gallagher reports from Manchester
ANDY LEE’S TRAINER Adam Booth has claimed that Billy Joe Saunders could attack the champion ‘with a samurai sword’ and it still wouldn’t faze his preparations for Saturday’s world-title showdown.
Limerick native Lee defends his WBO title against the undefeated former British champion at the Manchester Arena this weekend (live on subscription channel BoxNation).
The fighters have been going through the final promotional build-up for the bout, which was hit by two postponements before finally being set for the indoor venue on Saturday night.
Both fighters have shown a healthy level of mutual respect towards each other throughout the six months of promotion ahead of the fight, but Booth insists that Lee will approach the bout in the same way he always does no matter what way his opponent acts.
“It’s totally irrelevant,” said Booth. “Some people don’t understand that what goes on before is completely irrelevant if you’re confident in who you are.
Andy is an honest man and true to himself and so he knows he trains hard and he knows what he’s doing.”
Booth is no stranger to pre-fight dramatics, having previously worked the corner of heavyweight David Haye who memorably wore a T-shirt depicting the Klitschko brothers being decapitated by his fists in advance of his fight against Wladimir Klitschko.
Haye failed to fire in that fight, blaming an injured toe on his underwhelming performance, but Booth maintains that talking the talk is different from walking the walk.
“It wouldn’t matter if Billy Joe came across the room wielding a samurai sword or whether he came with a cuddly teddy bear as a gift because Andy knows, once he puts those gloves on and walks out of the changing room, he knows exactly how he is [in the ring],” added the trainer.
