Boxing | Kim Clavel’s “little country road”

Kim Clavel wants to do everything to return to a world championship fight next year, even if it means taking “a small country road” to get there.

For her third clash in this relaunch year, Clavel (19-2, 3 KOs) will face the Mexican Mayela Perez (20-27-4, 4 KOs), this Thursday evening, in the final of a GYM Group gala presented at the Cabaret du Casino de Montréal.

Originally, the former light flyweight world champion was to face an Argentinian rival, but she was unable to have her suspension lifted by her national athletic commission, explained Yvon Michel . With two weeks’ notice, the promoter therefore fell back on Perez, a 39-year-old pugilist who has lost six of her last seven duels.

“Honestly, I saw the girl on video, and she knows how to box,” Michel defended after the weigh-in on Wednesday. “For me, the important thing is that Kim is active and that she wins. »

Even if she wanted a rival with a more stellar record, Clavel accepts the hazards of “matchmaking”.

“She’s a girl who has a lot of experience with 51 professional fights,” said the athlete from Joliette. She hasn’t been knocked out since 2016. That’s really old. And his last four fights were against girls in the top 5 world, and she didn’t get arrested. She knows how to survive. If you stick to her, she will draw, she will throw. »

After a slump following her close defeat against Evelin Bermudez in a unification duel in October 2023, Clavel beat Fara El Boussairi and Katherine Renee Lindemunth in quick succession, “very feisty, very aggressive girls”.

At 34, however, his patience has limits. The protégé of coach Danielle Bouchard wants to fight for a world title next year “without fail”, in Montreal or elsewhere. The retirement of unified champion Seniesa Estrada opened doors in the 105 lbs, a category towards which the Quebecer, who weighed 107.2 lbs on Wednesday, is tending. “There are still three vacant belts,” noted Clavel, who dreams of facing Costa Rican Yokasta Valle, holder of the WBC crown.

The one that still appears in the top 5 world would not refuse a rematch against the Argentinian Bermudez or Yesica Nery Plata, the Mexican who had inflicted her first setback and stripped her of her WBC light flyweight belt (108 lb) in January 2023. Only Bermudez has fought (once) since. “No matter the opportunities, I’m going to go into it with open arms,” summed up Clavel.

In a way, its rapid rise after the pandemic episode forced GYM to do things “in reverse” with its star boxer, underlined Yvon Michel. The two 10-round fights and the one scheduled for this Thursday are in some ways obligatory passages that she should have taken earlier in her career.

“When you climb Everest, you have to do it in stages. We needed to redo steps with Kim. There was no point in going through the same process again and ultimately not being sure that she was going to be as ready as possible. »

The idea, however, is not to return to base camp, since the promoter is also aiming for another world championship opportunity in 2025.

“There are possibilities at 105 and there are possibilities at 108,” explained Yvon Michel. What’s fun with Kim is that we’re going to take him to the world championship according to our plan and our conditions. We’re not going to rush anything like it happened the first time. »

MPH in “the right place”

A bit in the same way, Marie-Pier Houle (10-1-2, 3 KOs) is once again knocking on the doors of a world championship clash. She will first want to put behind her the disappointment of a draw at the start of the summer, when she suffered a final for the first time.

“Mentally, I wasn’t in the right place at that time,” MPH realized. I got to the fight and I was like so nervous. There were lots of changes happening in my life. It made my focus not exactly in the right place. »

His goal is therefore “to finish 2024 with a big victory”. On her way she will meet Anissa Benyoub (7-4), a 32-year-old Frenchwoman on her first visit to Quebec.

Houle claims to have mastered the tools she has been working on for months with her trainer Sébastien Gauthier.

On Friday, she will follow with great interest the multimillionaire clash between the Puerto Rican Amanda Serrano and the Irish Katie Taylor, who will put her four super-lightweight belts at stake at the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington. This unified championship will be presented live on Netflix in the semi-final of the exhibition between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.

The outcome of the second Serrano-Taylor duel will reshuffle the cards in the 140 lbs category, but Houle is especially hoping for an opportunity in the welterweight (147 lbs), category in which the four major belts are currently shared. The British Sandy Ryan, against whom she had lost the vacant WBO title in April 2023, lost her crown against the American Mikaela Mayer on September 27.

“I am well ranked, both at 140 and 147,” recalled Houle. Doors will open. Open a door for me and I’ll walk in! I definitely want to go there. »

In the circumstances, the local favorite ensures not to take Ayoub lightly.

Mother of a 12-year-old teenager and a 20-month-old girl, Ayoub arrives from Toulouse with nothing to lose. “I’m happy to be here, but I didn’t come to make up the numbers,” warned the Frenchwoman. She has a great opponent in front of her. »

The Sherbrookois Loïck Lahaie, Facson Perrine, a Mauritian of origin established in Yamachiche, and the Saguenéen Alex Gagnon will make their professional debut on the undercard. Victor Tremblay, who returned from a camp in Las Vegas, hoped to have the same luck, but his opposite did not show up. The former Canadian amateur champion intends to resume on January 30. After all, Kim Clavel had also experienced the cancellation of her first professional fight, she told him at a press conference last month.