TRAINER OF THE YEAR
Jamie enjoying life as Britain’s top trainer, writes Terry Dooley
Moore receives award and prepares for the biggest challenge of his career
IT’S been an eventful time for Salford’s Jamie Moore. There’s been awards to treasure. And offers for one of his fighters, Rocky Fielding, to take on the biggest boxing star in the world to mull over.
When Moore took his seat at the British Boxing Board of Control’s Annual awards show on Friday September 28 he was grateful to be nominated for the Boxing News Trainer of the Year award alongside Dave Coldwell, Joe Gallagher, Rob Mccracken, Shane Mcguigan, and Sean O’hagan. When his name was announced, it was as stunning as one of the blows he sustained during his career — minus the pain (that hit home the morning after the celebrations) — and he accepted the award alongside his talkative number two and best friend Nigel Travis, who was so excited he thanked everyone except the tea lady.
“I’ve just said to him that I get to win an award and he ends up doing a longer speech than me,” laughed Moore when speaking to Boxing News.
“I couldn’t believe it,” added Travis. “I’m there standing in front of my peers and idols with an award that has been won by my best mate. That he has shared it with me means more than anything — it was unbelievable.”
“I thought that due to the profile of Anthony Joshua, Rob would pick it up,” admitted Moore. “But because of the way the gym is set-up, with Nigel there to help me, it gives us the option of training more fighters and they are fighters who are all at quite a high-level.
“We have had victories at a decent level then we had the upset win over in Germany with Rocky [Fielding’s WBA secondary super-middleweight title win over Tyron Zeuge], which not too many people get to do, and also Tommy [Coyle] beating Sean Dodd for the Commonwealth [lightweight title] was also seen as an upset, so maybe having a few wins that went against the grain tipped it in our favour.”
If Fielding successfully defends that title against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden on December 15 it won’t just go against the grain, it will send shockwaves through the boxing world. The making of the fight was surprise enough.
“I knew about the offer for three days before telling Rocky,” revealed Moore. “I could hear the excitement in his voice. In fact, he was so excited he forgot to ask me how much they were offering to pay him.”
“It is the biggest opportunity in boxing, you can’t turn it down,” added Moore, addressing those who believe it is a forlorn cause. “How will Alvarez deal with the weight, height and reach of Rocky? Those are the questions we intend to ask of him.”
Just over a year ago, Moore was contemplating a break from training. His intention was to see out Coyle’s career before settling back into punditry. Then fate stepped in. “[His former trainer] Oliver [Harrison] took ill so Martin [Murray] and Rocky came over,” he explained. “Then Carl [Frampton] joined and it just snowballed to the point where I went from training one fighter to about eight in the space of a few months — it was a big life adjustment for me to make.”
Moore has been able to deal with scheduling clashes due to the fact that he
trusts Travis to head up the corner if it is physically impossible for him to be there, most notably Coyle against Dodd on the night Frampton decisioned Nonito Donaire in Belfast.
“The reason we’ve been able to get the results we have at this level is by having someone at my side that I can trust,” he said. “We’ve known each other for about 18 years and we are of the same opinion about a lot of stuff. It is the closest I can get to being in the corner myself.”
Moore has also added someone to the team who assisted him throughout his own career; Kerry Kayes helped Moore make weight for years and is now a staple of their team. “I am surrounded by people I can trust, genuine people who care about me. Boxing has sometimes had a bad name for having snakes in the grass, people you just cannot trust, yet I’m lucky because the people who you could count on one hand that you genuinely trust are people I get to work with.”
The BN award holds a particular place in Moore’s heart due to the fact he engaged in eight British title fights and pretty much made the BBBOFC Fight of the Year trophy his own due to epics against Michael Jones (w rsf 6 in their third fight), Matthew Macklin (w ko 10) and Ryan Rhodes (l rsf 7).
“For me to have followed boxing for all of these years, to have looked up and admired fighters and trainers, then getting to turn pro and getting to entertain people and send the fans home happy, to then retire, be acknowledged by the Board for my career, and now to be called back and be nominated for this, it is amazing,” he said. “On the other hand, if you are open to accepting too much praise then it also makes you vulnerable to being open for criticism. My big thing has always been to do it the way we want to do it. I wasn’t going to follow anyone else’s blueprint. I believed that by creating the right sort of environment you create happy and successful fighters.
“We got criticism at first when we went to train in Tenerife as people thought it wasn’t a real training camp, they thought it looked like a lads’ holiday. We got quite a bit of stick. Then Carl’s performance against Donaire was widely praised, Tommy against Dodd was too, Fielding stopping [David] Brophy in a round — they all came off the back of those training camps. I can’t be open to praise now because you let your guard down and relax.”
The award — which was both created by and is decided by Boxing News — was also a testament to lessons learned under the watchful eyes of his former mentor. “I take so much from how Oliver trained me,” he said when paying homage to Harrison. “We were alone, just trusting in each other and in doing our own thing. Oliver was the person I spent most time with and is still the biggest influence.”
‘WITH THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT YOU CREATE SUCCESSFUL FIGHTERS’