Hall of Fame trainer Kenny Adams passed away, aged 84, in Las Vegas, on April 7.

Adams from Springfield, Missouri, was talented amateur boxer, who earnt the nickname "Sugar."

He entered the military and served in the 101 Airborne division and saw service in Vietnam.

Adams’ love of boxing brought him back and became a coach in the services. He gained a reputation as a strict disciplinarian but also a talented coach. He was an assistant on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team. Four years later he rose to head coach. The 1988 team claimed 11 medals, 8 of which were gold and gave lift off the likes of Riddick Bowe, Roy Jones Jr. and Kennedy McKinney.

Renowned cornerman, Russ Anber, met Adams in Beamont, Texas at the North American championships in 1985. Anber was there with the Canadian national team, while Adams with the U.S. team.

"You could just see this was a guy was a teacher, a leader of his team," Anber told The Ring. "I was just getting started, I was 24-years-old, I wanted to meet this guy and I started talking to him and instead of being standoff ish, he was welcoming and warming to me and answered any question I had and we discussed different things, how a fighter should train, how you should prepare guys. He was an open book and I loved that about him.

"We stayed friends throughout, right up until we went to [Seoul, South] Korea [in 1988], when we both went to the Olympics. He was there when Roy Jones Jr. got robbed. Then I would see him at pro shows, events and he even came to our opening in Las Vegas, when I opened up Rival and he came in and hugged me. He was so warm every time I saw him. It was like I had seen him last week.

"I think he was a great teacher and great trainer and I think we're going to miss a real boxing mind in the boxing world we live in."

During his time in the amateurs, Adams met Al Cole, who enlisted in Fort Hood, Texas. Their interaction didn't initially go very well.

"I didn't know anything about boxing but signed up for boxing," Cole recalled. "I asked Kenny Adams where I sign up for No vice boxing. I had separated Novice, but I called it No vice, I didn't know what it was, and he thought I was a stupid, dump private and told me to get out."

Cole wouldn't be deterred and won the novice tournament. He went from strength-to-strength and despite only boxing for four years he surprisingly won the Olympic trials at 178 pounds. However, he controversially lost in the final of the Box-Off against the much-hyped Andrew Maynard.

Cole ended up leaving the Army and becoming professional. A damn good one, who won the IBF cruiserweight world champion.

Not many trainers can say they've taken a fighter from putting gloves on for the first time all the way to world champion.

Adams wasn’t just a trainer, he was a teacher, who told me once he worked with around 35 world champions.

The list would also includes the likes of Ruslan Chagaev, Vince Phillips, Edwin Valero, Jorge Linares, Diego Corrales, Freddie Norwood, Bones Adams and Kennedy McKinney.

Adams was with Jan Bergman who lost to IBF titlist Kostya Tszyu. Tszyu was lined up for a mega fight with Oscar De La Hoya but had one final hurdle to clear and had to first face Phillips for the same title. Adams told Vlad Warton, who was Tszyu's manager/ promoter, 'Nobody beats me twice.' during the in-ring instructions.

Phillips went on to beat Tszyu in 10-rounds. After the fight with all those plans up in smoke, Adams went over to Wharton and said to him, 'Told you.'

It wasn’t the first time an Adams trained fighter scored a big upset. Rene Jacquot shocked Donald Curry in 1989. Both fights were awarded Ring Magazine Upset of the Year.

One of his last world champion was extremely dramatic, he was working with South Africa’s DeeJay Kriel, who was fighting Marcos Licona for the IBF strawweight title in February 2019.

"I got back to the corner at the end of the ninth and [my trainer] Kenny [Adams] said to me, "Son, we're losing this fight. Did you come here for nothing? Did you come all this way to lose? All this hard work we've put in are you just going to throw it away?"' said Kriel of the rousing speech from his trainer. "And from the 10th round I started trying to put more power in my punches and started to hit with the intent to hurt and from there, it started taking a toll on Carlos Licona.

"So, when it came to the 12th round, I kept pushing."

Kriel scored the stoppage with less than a minute to go in the fight.

Adams had long told me he hoped to one day join friends and contemporaries Eddie Futch and Emanuel Steward in Canastota at the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Last year, he received that call and was inducted as part of the class of 2024.