Jason Booth has dismissed talk of retirement and is targeting a Lonsdale Belt at a third weight.
The slick-boxing Nottingham stylist lost his British super-bantamweight belt to undefeated Scott Quigg last month and many in the trade felt the end had finally arrived after an up-and-down 15-year paid career in which he's never ducked a challenge.
And that seemed to be re-enforced by his manager, Jimmy Gill, and promoter, Frank Maloney, who both wanted the former IBF world title challenger to hang his gloves up after a farewell fight in his home city next year.
But Booth, a measured, nimble-footed old-school boxer who lacked the pop to make a real dent in his 8st 10lbs opponents, has ignored the concerns of his team and has set his sights on a British title eliminator with stiff-hitting Stuey Hall, 11-1-1 (7), in the New Year.
That's a fight that could be elevated to full title status if, as expected, the current champion, Doncaster's tall and improving Jamie McDonnell [who also holds the Commonwealth and Continental 8st 6lbs crowns], relinquishes the British belt in the coming months to pursue a WBC world title challenge.
And though the Strelley-based East Midlander has suffered back-to-back defeats in 2011, first in a European title challenge to hammer-fisted Spaniard Kiko Martinez in April and then to Hatton-promoted Quigg in October, he believes it was size rather than talent that cost him. Martinez was the first man to halt Jason [in ten in Spain] and then Bury-based Scott forced his retirement after seven but Booth is adamant it's merely a blip.
The Tony Harris-trained veteran, whose outside-the-ring troubles are as well-documented as his in-ring triumphs, unsuccessfully challenged for Ian Napa's domestic crown at bantamweight in 2007 but has won British titles at fly and super-bantamweight, Commonwealth belts at three weights and also worn an IBO super-flyweight strap.
And he sees Hall as a perfect fight for his boxing resurrection. "Talk of me retiring after my last fight is wrong," said the always-enigmatic and animated 34-year-old from the Robin Hood city.
"I took a bit of a beating towards the end [against Quigg], which is why people thought i wouldn't box again. But i was too small to hurt him and, in truth, i realised that i wouldn't be able to when i saw him at the weigh-in; he looked three divisions bigger.
"Quigg, all-round, is better but Martinez hits harder and though i had good fights at super-bantam, those last two contests finally made me realise that it's not my weight. To tell the truth, it never was but i kept winning and a world title fight came my way and i wasn't going to turn that down.
"But i think bantamweight will suit me. I've sparred Stuey Hall loads and think that would be a good British title eliminator," continued the tight-guarded 34-year-old, 36-8 (15).
"If i lost that then it would probably be the end for me as a boxer," he candidly conceded. "But if i won, it could open a lot of doors for me again. I feel as though i have plenty left."
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