by James Slater – Last night, at the historic York Hall in London, Jason Booth, one of Britain’s hardest working fighters, successfully defended his British super-bantamweight title with a points win over fellow Brit Rocky Dean. Booth, nicknamed “2-Smooth” won unanimously on points in a tough affair, and now his promoter Frank Maloney is going to try his best to see that the 31-year-old servant of the sport is rewarded with a much deserved crack at a major world title..
Booth, 33-5(13), is a former British and Commonwealth title holder at flyweight, a Commonwealth champion at bantamweight, as well as being the current British champ at 122-pounds. Maloney says that a fight with any of the reigning world champions at either super-fly or bantam – Booth’s best weights – would be winnable fights for his man.
“Maybe the champions at super-bantamweight are a bit too big,” Maloney told the BBC. “But at bantamweight and certainly super-flyweight Jason would be a match for anybody. If I could get him a world title fight before he retires it would give me as much pleasure as I got when Lennox Lewis won the world heavyweight championship.
“I will be at the WBC convention later this year lobbying on his behalf and I will see what possibilities there are with the other governing bodies.”
Booth’s story is well know to some British fight fans; how he came back from an alcohol problem to regain his former skills. A gutsy and also slick operator who always gives his all, both in the ring and in the gym, a world title shot would be the perfect way to bring down the curtain on Booth’s 13-year pro career – a career that has never seen him lose a fight by stoppage.
Maloney has nothing but good things to say about the warrior he promotes.
“He is an old-school fighter who isn’t worried about who he fights,” Maloney said. “Plenty of fighters moan about opponents, well they should look at Jason as an example.”
A world title challenge of someone like the mighty Vic Darchinyan looks unlikely to come off for Booth, but maybe Maloney will be able to get his man a crack at someone like the winner of the Tomas Rojas-Everardo Morales clash? In the meantime, Booth looks to stay busy at domestic level, and fights against the likes of Michael Hunter and European super-bantamweight champ Rendall Munroe are possibilities for the coming months.