Kenny Adams

Adams worked with the undisciplined World champion Edwin Valero up until his death in 2010. Adams stated that “Valero always used to try to overrule people, but I was always up with him. The way I catch mitts I think drew him to me. I'd bust a cat upside the head if his defense wasn’t working. So when he made mistakes, I’d bust him by the side of his head. I think he respected that because most people didn’t stand up to him".

In late November 2010, Adams (aged 69) was admitted to a hospital in Las Vegas when his bladder and prostate swelled up, leaving him close to kidney failure. He recovered very quickly, in time to be ringside to see his fighter Sharif Bogere win on the undercard of Khan-Miadana in mid December. Adams was back on the mitts just two days later.

Adams brings an extremely strict disciplinarian style to the gym with him. He demands a strong work ethic and he lives with the mentality that he is always the boss - it's his way or the highway. Adams exclaimed that “they asked me to work with Floyd Mayweather Jr. back in the late 90s and early 2000s, so I headed over to the gym and was working out with another guy out front. When he showed up, he had one of his guys come and tell me he was ready for me out back. I told his guy that 'I'm the boss' and to come out front. In the end, we went our own separate ways.”

At the professional level, his first world champion was Rene Jacquot of France, who stunned Donald Curry in 1989 in what was voted "Upset of the Year" by The Ring magazine. His first American champion was Eddie Cook, who stopped Israel Contreras in early 1992.

Four years later, he moved up as head trainer for the 1988 American Olympic team. Adams was suspended for six months for assaulting USA/ABF controller J. Kersten Dahl in an incident at the federation's headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The two engaged in a shouting match that ended with Adams grabbing him by the throat. Adams would be reinstated after he appealed the decision to the federation's board of directors.

After completing his service time, Adams would assist the 1984 American Olympic team in achieving 9 gold medals, one silver and one bronze. His students would include future World champions in Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, Mark Breland, Frank Tate, Henry Tillman, and Virgil Hill.

Adams never had a trainer, having his first amateur fight at the age of 12 at a weight of 95 pounds. He had a successful amateur career, winning all Army and Service championships, as well as the East Coast & Florida AU’s titles fighting at Flyweight and Bantamweight. He was nicknamed “Little Sugar” as his good friend Ray Owens, who was a 1964 Olympic alternate, was known as “Big Sugar” both in homage to the great Sugar Ray Robinson.

Kenneth "Kenny" Adams (born September 25, 1940) is an American professional boxing trainer and former Olympic amateur boxer. Adams is a highly respected boxing trainer, having been inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. Adams is a pioneer in boxing, having been the first American trainer to implement strength training. He is also the first African-American selected as head coach of the American national boxing team. Adams brings such a strict disciplinarian training style that the eight-time, five-division World champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. refused to work with him. In 1999, the multiple-time World champion Wladimir Klitschko asked Adams to assist him in properly turning over his fist on the left hook for power. In 2005, eight-division World champion Manny Pacquiao requested to train with Adams, but Adams declined to aid to his ill wife at the time.