In Jessica Nery Plata, Kim Clavel rubs shoulders with the best boxer she has faced in her career. It needed a training camp to match.
Her trainer, Danielle Bouchard, and her team of Stéphan Larouche, Pierre Bouchard and Sara Kali have gone above and beyond to ensure that the 32-year-old boxer is in top form when it comes time to defend her World Boxing title. Council (WBC) of the mid-flyweights and to try to delight that of the World Boxing Association (WBA) held by the Mexican, Thursday, at Place Bell.
“More needed to be done,” she said. It’s constantly questioning yourself. As a trainer, I’m looking for new information, I watch videos, I take training. […] Each of our team members, I felt we did even more. Whether in terms of boxing, physical preparation, where we bet on several new exercises: we went looking for something more. Each of us, in his own tasks, we gave more. »
Giving more also means putting his protege even more to the test. Clavel (16-0, 3 KOs), worked hard during this camp, part of which was held under the hot rays of the Dominican Republic.
“It was very difficult, we pushed our limits, so much that sometimes I didn’t think I would make it to the end of the session, admitted Clavel. But I realized that we are sometimes braver than we think. »
It must be said that in Clavel, Bouchard has a demanding client.
“That was my request: I wanted it to be tough,” Clavel said. It still is, but I wanted it to be one more tick. […] When you’re still proud of what you just did, you’re not improving. »
“It has to be a known area: if the fight is even more difficult than you think, if a round is really not going well, you have to be able to recognize this pain. […] It has to be deja vu; it doesn’t have to be that difficult for the first time during a fight. »
Strategic
Nery Plata (28-2, 3 K.-O.) will try to defend for the first time the title that she stole by split decision from Argentina’s Yesica Yolanda Bopp last October.
The 28-year-old pugilist relies on wisdom to try to add the WBC title to her list.
“Nery Plata has a good intelligence of the ring, she will not always go on the attack, noted Bouchard. She can retreat, reflect, she is strategic. It’s one of the tools we have to know the work we have to do. »
“She’s a very disciplined girl, who keeps her hands high and likes to control the center of the ring,” Clavel said. She is difficult to move. It’s hard to adapt to her, because you don’t know what she’s going to bring. It will be up to us, in the corner, to adapt round after round. »
On the side of the Mexican, it is above all the speed of Clavel that seems to be judged as the main weapon of her opponent.
“I saw that Kim was fast, so I focused my preparation on that,” she said through an interpreter.
“It’s my main asset, but it’s certainly not the only one,” replied the Quebecer. I’m a very versatile boxer in the ring, and Danielle pushed me in training. I had partners from sparring who jostled me, pushed me; some very technical girls, some who threw a high volume of punches, some less so. I really had opponents of all kinds in order to be as ready as possible on Thursday. »
“I saw a Kim who improved technically, in terms of her physical condition and even physically, you’ll see, her muscle definition is impressive,” added Bouchard. That’s being world champion and always wanting to be better: always having room to learn. »
It is around 10 p.m. Thursday that we will see if Clavel is able to apply the full sum of these lessons.