Under the amused eye of his adviser Stéphan Larouche, who kept the clock, Kim Clavel signed dozens of caps flocked with his name, a promotion from a new sponsor, Jean Bleu.
In view of her unification fight for two world champion belts, Thursday evening at Place Bell in Laval, the Quebec jeans retailer has teamed up with the 32-year-old boxer. Wrapped hands, white top and dark blue denim pants, she poses on large billboards deployed along major highways in the Montreal (45) and Quebec (15) regions.
On the sidelines of Marie-Ève Dicaire’s duel in England two weeks ago, Yvon Michel said that Clavel is now the most popular boxing athlete in Quebec, all sexes combined.
Her explosive style, her pleasant personality and her new status as a world monarch since her victory against the Mexican Yesenia Gómez, last summer at the Casino de Montréal, have accentuated her appeal to lovers of the noble art.
Kim had some of the finest fights we’ve seen in Quebec, regardless of genre.
Yvon Michel
In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, she put her gloves away to put on her nursing assistant gown and help in hospitals. This gesture, quite natural for her, increased her fame to the United States, where she received the prestigious Pat Tillman Award for Service, as part of the ESPY gala broadcast on ABC.
Turning professional in 2017, she also gained another audience after her remarkable participation in the reality show Big Brother Celebritieswhere she snuck in as one of the three finalists in Winter 2021.
The winner, comedian Jean-Thomas Jobin, with whom she befriended, called her “the funniest person” he knows. She is now a popular guest on podcasts, models for good causes (Le Chaînon) and her number of subscribers on her Instagram page has jumped to more than 50,000.
Like Lucian Bute
At the time of our visit to the Claude-Robillard sports complex, her training ground, she had just received a private message from a new fan. He wrote that for a few months, the boxer made him relive the emotions that Lucian Bute gave him when he was world champion.
“I’m getting recognized more and more and I’m fine with that,” Clavel said in an interview Thursday. The people are nice and kind. I find this beautiful. Because in 2022, in social networks and behind their screens, people are sometimes rough with athletes in general. Even between them. I read cases and I think to myself, “My God, they are so mean to each other!” »
Fortunately, she is not entitled to such treatment. This public support is important both for his personal well-being and for the rest of his career.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Kim Clavel in training
I need them to propel me upwards. The more I get recognized, the more people come to me, the more positive it is. I tell myself that I must release something good. It is a pleasure. I love taking pictures with people. I like to chat with the world. I like the world.
Kim Clavel
It was to be served Saturday noon as part of a public training scheduled at Carrefour Laval. However, the event was moved to Friday due to the many viruses that are running around. The boxers will therefore meet at the BoxeMontréal.com gym in Claude-Robillard for an exercise reserved for the media.
Coach Danielle Bouchard’s protege should meet her future opponent for the first time, Mexican Yesica Nery Plata, holder of the WBA belt at 108 lbs.
After her face-to-face with Gómez, who had tried to provoke her during the weigh-in, what does Clavel expect from Nery Plata?
“I have the impression that she is going to be more discreet. She’s a real boxing girl, trained by her father. She’s there for the sport, she comes to do her job. I’ve seen her weigh-ins before and she’s a confident girl with her head held high, but not meant to intimidate. »
The 28-year-old Mexican went 28-2 (3 KOs) in a 10-plus-year pro career that was spent almost entirely in Mexico.
PHOTO FROM YESS_NERY_PLATA INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT
Yesica Nery Plata
On the sporting level, Clavel anticipates a less aggressive rival than Gómez, who darkened and multiplied the blows. “I think she will be smarter in the ring, more strategic. It will throw less big combinations everywhere, but it will be more precise. It will be a game very different. »
Direction Place Bell
Now, will Kim Clavel succeed in attracting a large audience for her first final played in a vast amphitheater like Place Bell, where she made her professional debut in 2017?
In a configuration that can accommodate just over 5000 people, Yvon Michel hopes to receive 4000 for this gala presented exceptionally on a Thursday evening, an experience for the GYM Group. By the promoter’s own admission, ticket sales are a challenge in this austere period when boxing is looking for itself.
The star of the evening, undefeated in 16 fights (3 KOs), does she feel additional pressure?
“No,” Clavel decided. My job is to train, box, deliver the goods. I’m still very involved in the promotion, but I can’t do miracles or force people to buy tickets. […] I know the dollar/leisure is harder to come by. It’s the same for shows. Life is so expensive. Will the world pay 100 piastres to go see a boxing gala? Maybe yes, maybe no. Come here, my job remains the same whether there are 2000 or 5000 people in the square. »
After nearly 12 weeks of training, including two in the Dominican Republic last month, Clavel can’t wait to hear the bell ring.
“I’m at the top of my game. I just can’t wait to be in the ring, to show all the work I’ve done and to get that belt. »
In which case she will have many other hats to put her signature on.
Two other female fights
Thursday night’s card at Place Bell also includes fights from Marie-Pier Houle (7-0-1, 1 KO), a student of Sébastien Gauthier, and rookie Caroline Veyre, another protege of Danielle Bouchard, who will be in her second professional match after representing Canada at the Tokyo Olympics (5e). The young left-hander Derek Pomerleau (3-0, 2 K.-O.), of whom Stéphan Larouche says a lot of good, will line up in a first duel scheduled for six rounds.