A jug of Pedialyte in front of her, Kim Clavel didn’t need to explain why her world title fight had to be pushed back until Jan. 13, Wednesday morning.
Hoarse voice, stuffy nose, throat clogged with secretions: unless she was an extraordinary actress, she was clearly “unfit to box”, as her doctor had to make her understand the day before.
With her trainer Danielle Bouchard and her adviser Stéphan Larouche, she was then trying to save time and postpone until Wednesday morning the decision to go ahead or not with her confrontation against the Mexican Yesica Nery Plata, Thursday evening, at the Place Bell de Laval.
It was finally the leaders of the GYM Group who decided after talking to Dr Francis Fontaine Tuesday evening. “We pull the plug,” said President Yvon Michel, who did everything to ensure that Clavel did not consider himself at fault.
“Of course we are in shock, but we don’t want to pass that on to Kim,” explained the promoter, who estimates his losses “in the six figures”.
“We don’t want her to realize that. So we absolutely wanted her to feel the best she could. We told them that Kim is a long-term project. It’s not short term. It’s not the end of the world, what will happen. »
Still, Clavel looked aghast as he spoke to reporters via videoconference.
“Boxing is not like basketball: when you don’t spin, you can’t stay on the bench, she recalled. I’m going to face the world premiere. Do you see me boxing in this state? If something happens, everyone would have said: gang of without intentions to have let her box…
“What I feel the worst about, obviously, is for the Plata team. His father, his brother, who were here. For all the boxers, Caroline Veyre who boxed [pour la première fois] in Quebec, Derek [Pomerleau]Mazlun [Akdeniz], Eric Basran… I’m so sorry. I have a feeling of shame and guilt. »
I can’t box in this state.
Kim Clavel
Clavel simply considers herself “unlucky” after “trying to control” everything she could. “I did everything in my power to stay healthy for this fight. The flu is really aggressive right now. I am not the only one. We see everyone in the emergency room.
“I was well hydrated, I took my vitamins every day, but as a boxer, when you start to lose weight in the last week, you become more vulnerable. »
“For 36 hours, I had a fever of 40”
After the first symptoms on Sunday evening, the WBC champion began to feel much less well after Monday morning’s press conference at the Casino de Montréal, where Michel found that she did not have her “pep” and his usual enthusiasm.
“I had a temperature, I started having a sore throat, my nose was very, very stuffy. For 36 hours, I had a fever of 40. »
In this state, the idea of sauna and hot baths to reduce his weight to the allowable limit of 108 pounds for Wednesday’s weigh-in seemed incongruous.
After a negative COVID-19 test, the Dr Fontaine was diagnosed with the flu, an infection that takes two to three weeks to recover from.
“He wrote to me: Kim, you are unfit to box and I will not hesitate to say it. You risk making it worse [ton état] or suffer injuries if you fight. I’ll be clear: someone who has a fever for 48 hours before a fight has every chance of losing. »
The native of Joliette must have had the impression of replaying in a bad movie.
Last year, her championship fight against Yesenia Gomez, scheduled for December, was postponed due to a back injury to the Quebecer. In March, it was the Mexican who requested a one-month postponement after a case of COVID-19 in her entourage. A week before the postponed clash in April, Clavel contracted the new coronavirus…
The disease was particularly virulent. The boxer spent two weeks in bed before returning to training two weeks later. Seriously slowed down upon her return to the gym, she feared she might fall victim to long COVID.
After being assured she was fully healed, GYM rescheduled the duel on July 29, where Clavel (16-0, 3 KOs) delivered a masterful display to dethrone Gomez by unanimous decision. This is what convinced Yvon Michel to oppose him to Nery Plata (28-2, 3 KOs), holder of the WBA belt, in December.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Yesica Nery Plata and Kim Clavel
“What’s a bit positive is that COVID is something we didn’t know about,” Clavel noted. There are the symptoms, do you have long COVID? You have the stress of the continuation. While the flu, you know it’s 10 days off and you won’t have long term symptoms. »
GYM questioned the relevance of maintaining the gala on Thursday evening despite the absence of its headliner. The idea was quickly abandoned at the cost of “enormous tears and disappointment” among some pugilists involved, said Yvon Michel.
“After analysis, we said to ourselves that if you buy tickets to see Celine Dion and we present Véronic DiCaire, you are not satisfied, you become frustrated. »
Nery Plata reportedly absorbed the news philosophically. “OK, muchas gracias,” replied the Mexican boxer when Michel texted her to explain the situation on Tuesday evening. The promoter received her with her coach father and younger brother at his office on Wednesday morning. “They didn’t seem embittered in any way and they accept the January 13 date without problem. »
The trio will return to Mexico on Friday morning as planned. “I offered to leave the belt here, she said no…”
For now, the fights announced Thursday are all renewed to January 13, including the one involving Marie-Pier Houle. Ticket holders – just over 3,200 have been sold, according to the promoter – can save them for the January 13 gala. Those who want a refund will be able to get it.
“It’s my dream to unify this championship,” said Clavel. I’m so close to this fight. Now that I can’t fight, I have to be resilient and that’s one of my strengths. At the time, it seems like the end of the world, but when I look back on it in a few months, I know I will have learned a lot. »
Finally a fight for Rivas
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Oscar Rivas
Groupe GYM didn’t just have bad news to announce on Wednesday: its foal Óscar Rivas will finally have the opportunity to get back in the ring, 15 months after his last fight. The Colombian-born Quebec heavyweight (28-1, 19 KOs) will face Efe Ajagba (16-1, 13 KOs) at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New State York on January 14. The 28-year-old Nigerian played in the Rio Olympics before scoring a knockout. in the first round in six of his first eight professional fights. Organized in collaboration with promoter Top Rank, the duel will be televised on RDS2 and ESPN in the United States. Rivas’ clash in Poland against Lukasz Rozanski is pushed back a week or two, in March. He will then defend his WBC super-lightweight belt, acquired in October 2021. Two of his scheduled fights in his native country were mysteriously canceled earlier this year.