Apart from Caroline Veyre who glared at her Mexican rival Estefenia “La Cholita” Franco, spectacular with her braids in the colors of her country, no one sent arrows on the sidelines of the weigh-in for the Irresistible II gala, Thursday noon , among slot machine players in a bustling Montreal Casino before the snowstorm.
In any case, it was not necessary to count on Kim Clavel to add to it against Yesica Nery Plata, who accepted with good grace the postponement of six weeks due to an illness of her rival.
“Don’t worry about that,” however warned the Quebecer, who promised to have the required aggressiveness when the bell rang around 9:30 p.m. in the Rocket’s lair.
It seems like everyone is worried because I’m calm, in perfect control of my emotions… Tomorrow, it’s going to be a Kim going to war, a Kim on a mission.
Kim Clavel
How will this translate?
“There, I’m in the world, but I’m not in the world all the time, even in my training camp. I can’t wait to fight. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. It’s just that the girl in front of me is smiling, sweet, kind. I will not start going to set fire to it, it is useless. »
The 32-year-old athlete was jealously protected by her entourage of around ten people, all dressed in a new azure suit, a rare notable change in the clan of the WBC half-flyweight champion since the cancellation in extremis at two days of the event, at the end of November.
A noticeable difference
Unsurprisingly, Clavel (16-0, 3 KOs) easily met the 108lb limit, stopping the needle at 107.8lbs, 3.6lbs heavier than her opponent, a weight difference which she greeted with a shrug.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Kim Clavel and Yesica Nery Plata
Well for me it doesn’t change anything. She has already fought at 105 lbs in her career. It doesn’t matter to me, I made the weight, it is useless for me to go down too low.
Kim Clavel
Describing her protege as “big 108 lbs”, trainer Danielle Bouchard recalled that she was “very, very muscular”, a quality that the team obviously wants to see her keep. That said, Nery Plata is built in “a completely different style”.
” [Elle a] slender muscles, underlined the technician. It’s easier to make weight when you have less muscle mass. Is this a clue to anything? Not necessarily. Just because you have more muscle mass doesn’t mean you’re going to punch harder. »
Nery Plata (28-2, 3 KOs) did not make much of the difference in weight, noting that she had not changed anything in her preparation and that she had often displayed this mass. “I trained normally, made the weight as planned, didn’t do anything different,” the WBA belt holder expressed.
Beware of the contender
Promoter Yvon Michel is wary of the power of the Mexican, who dethroned Argentine legend Yesica Yolanda Bopp, winner of 28 consecutive world championship fights, in the spring in Panama.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Yvon Michel and Kim Clavel
Plata hits really hard. She has a great quality left hook, but she doesn’t have great defense. Anything can happen in a fight like this.
Yvon Michel, president of GYM and fight promoter
The president of GYM obviously expects a victory from Clavel, but not that she wins all 10 rounds as was the case against Yesenia Gomez in July at the Casino.
“Plata will put pressure all the time. It’s his style. But it’s more controlled pressure than Gomez. Gomez throws punches. Plata, she’s brilliant pressure, she cuts the ring, she gets close, she likes to fight mid-range. Kim can’t mix it up with her.
“Kim will have to come home [et ressorte]. She is good at doing that. In my opinion, Kim is faster. She will have to throw her combinations and place herself right away. She can’t trade blow for blow. »
Yvon Michel therefore plans to be “at the end of [son] siege” as with Jean Pascal’s championship fights against Chad Dawson and Adrian Diaconu, in 2009 and 2010.
“We have a very comprehensive and very ambitious plan for Kim. Of course, it can go off the rails easily. We have confidence, but we will be on edge. »
A new notoriety
A new star in Quebec, Clavel could take advantage of this confrontation to expand his notoriety abroad. After the postponement, ESPN decided to air the card, like ESPN Knockout in Latin America. Thursday morning, Yvon Michel was even surprised to learn that a Chinese network had bought the rights…
“I really have confidence that Kim will give us several years of high level boxing, predicted the experienced promoter. What we’re going to do tomorrow is a start for her. International boxing is like a door that opens wide for her to enter that level. And she will take us with her. »
To begin, Kim Clavel will first have to try to become the first boxer, all genres combined, to unify world titles in Quebec.
In short
Status quo
The postponement of the Irresistible II gala has not hurt ticket sales too much. Yvon Michel claimed that 3,200 of them had found takers on Thursday morning, about the same number as on 1er December. The ceiling of 4000 seemed attainable to him. A dozen tables are still available, however, where the most expensive tickets are. “People are on vacation,” noted the promoter who redeemed himself with ESPN.
Widely favorite
In November, Kim Clavel considered himself the underdog for the upcoming clash against Yesica Nery Plata. But the bookmakers proved him wrong; they agree that the 32-year-old Canadian will be the overwhelming favorite on Friday night in Laval. According to bet365.com, you have to invest $900 to make a profit of $100. Conversely, a $100 bet on the Mexican would return a nice $500 premium. At Mise-O-Jeu, a $10 bet on Clavel would equal a gain of $11…
hardworking
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Frédérick Laberge, Kim Clavel’s physical trainer
After a week of physical evaluation after his flu, Clavel was able to resume training at full speed. His trainer Frédérick Laberge simply condensed the normal period of an internship into five weeks. “We tried to restimulate what is called the physiological peak for the fight, he explained on the sidelines of the weigh-in on Thursday. All parameters were at 110%. The power spectrum was at its peak from week to week, as was his intramuscular coordination and energy level. Kim is an outstanding athlete. She knows how to use her heart to the fullest of her abilities. Laberge underlined that the qualities of his protege go beyond mere talent, both in the ring and in the training room or on the track. “Kim created that talent. What she has now is truly deserved. I am blessed to have an athlete like that in my hands. »
Submap
Quebecers Mazlum Akdeniz (7-0), Marie-Pier Houle (7-0-1), Derek Pomerleau (3-0), and Caroline Veyre (1-0) as well as Vancouver’s Eric Basran all fulfilled their mission to respect their respective weight limit on Thursday, just like their Mexican opponents. The gala begins at 7 p.m. at Place Bell.