MONTREAL — On May 12, Kim Clavel will return to the scene of a failed meeting.
The 32-year-old boxer will step into the ring at Place Bell for the second time. Last January she suffered a defeat there – the first of her career – in her unification battle against Jessica Nery Plata.
“It’s like I’ve had a first ‘date’ that didn’t go too well,” the pugilist introduced on Wednesday before practicing in front of media representatives. Now I’m going on a second “date” and I know what to expect.”
“It’s an area I know and will manage. We made some adjustments to get better. On that second “date” there, the person will fall in love with me!
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This second tryst pits Clavel (16-1-0, 3 KOs) against Mexico’s Naomi Reyes (9-2-0, 5 KOs), who was also beaten on her last out in October.
“I want to prove that my unification fight was a small mistake that taught me a lot. We’ll set the record straight. I will return to winning ways. I’m not just confident, I’m convinced.”
put on a good show
It’s not surprising that Clavel displays such confidence, it’s the norm among individuals who practice the trade. The athlete refuses to imagine that she will suffer defeat against Reyes.
“It’s not part of my mindset,” she replied when asked what a setback would mean for the rest of her career.
Their sponsor Yvon Michel has now agreed to expand this possibility.
“It will depend on her putting on a good show. In the end, that’s it. If she puts on a good show, we can do a rematch. As organizers, we often tend to dramatize a possible defeat.
“It always depends on how it happened,” added the GYM president. A loss is nothing dramatic. If you put on a good show, people are always interested in you.”
The privilege of printing
That means Clavel not only has to try to repeat the win, but also to impress the fans.
“It’s part of an athlete’s responsibility. We are a spectator sport, explained Yvon Michel. You get paid based on your popularity and the interest you create around you. Kim is very aware of that.”
“I like that pressure,” Clavel said. It’s a privilege to feel it. A boxer who doesn’t care about the result and doesn’t like what he’s doing will feel no pressure. I like it! It makes me live I take the pressure to push myself up.
In terms of ticket sales, Yvon Michel announced that just under 1,500 seats have been sold and he hopes that number will rise to 2,000.
“We won’t make it to 4,000 as we would like, but the response is good. There has been a good surge over the past few days and we expect that to be the case again next week,” he said.