Boxing Gala on December 17th | Marie-Eve Dicaire appreciates every moment

Marie-Eve Dicaire will not need anyone to give her the most beautiful Christmas gifts. She will have the power to afford it herself, on December 17, when she steps into the ring at the Bell Center, to win back the IBF super-middle-middleweight world title.

Katherine Harvey-Pinard
Press

The Quebecer held her media training Thursday afternoon at the Sherbatov MMA gym in Laval. Only two short weeks now separate her from her world championship fight, which she will play just before that of Artur Beterbiev against Marcus Browne.

Dicaire had just entered the building and had not yet taken off her coat that she was already showing a big smile. Even during her exercises, all sweaty, the boxer let out a few bursts of laughter here and there.

“I enjoy every moment of this adventure,” she said. […] I know all the work that it represents. It is a life of sacrifice, it is a life of effort. I am so happy to be here. ”

“It is sure that when the bell rings, on the 17th [décembre], the smile will be less present. But it’s gonna be an inner smile. ”

That evening, Dicaire (17-1-0) will face the Mexican Cynthia Lozano (9-0-0, 7 K.-O.) in an amphitheater where she always dreamed of performing, she who grew up in watching the Montreal Canadiens play. “It’s a childhood dream,” she said.

Let’s bet this dream includes a victory. The athlete is also used to winning. Until last March, she had not bowed once in her professional career. It was American Claressa Shields who defeated her in 10 rounds to end this perfect record.

So it’s been more than two years since Dicaire has not experienced the euphoria of winning a fight, her last victory dating back to November 23, 2019 against the Venezuelan Ogleidis Suárez. The pugilist intends to regain the joy of victory in two weeks.

“As soon as I got back from my fight with Claressa Shields, I was in quarantine. One day, I called Yvon [Michel] to ask him what was next. The other day, I called Stéphane [Harnois] : “There, what are we going to do?” After that I called Samuel [Décarie]. I called my whole team. I was already eager to turn the page on this defeat. ”

This setback against Shields has also had the effect of giving him a renewed determination, resentment, ardor. He “rekindled this flame for boxing,” she said.

Dicaire says she didn’t need to make any changes to her mental preparation for this fight to win back. “We didn’t work differently, we just worked with tools that we already had. We used what I experienced against Claressa Shields to transpose it into my boxing. ”

“Stay alert”

According to Marie-Eve Dicaire’s trainer, Stéphane Harnois, the preparation “is going very well”. “Of course, there are still little things to fine-tune. We are not 100% satisfied as long as we have not arrived in the ring, ”he said.

Over the past few weeks, the athlete has worked “to be a lot stronger on his legs, a lot lower”.

“It was difficult for me at first, but I’m more and more comfortable with this style, and it feels like it’s going to make a big difference in the fight,” she said. .

When asked what is the message hammered by her trainer on a daily basis, the boxer responds straight away: “Stay alert. ”

“It’s something I tend to do,” she noted. I throw punches and then I got the job done. [C’est] to stay alert, to be prepared for all eventualities. We know, my opponent is perhaps not the greatest technician, but there is the danger, because you never know where the blow can come from and how it can come out. ”

If some boxers like to visualize themselves with the belt in their hands, Dicaire, she prefers to visualize the process she will have to follow to be champion.

“I need to box in such a way, to listen to the strategy, my coaches. Rather, that’s what I’m going to visualize. ”