LONDON – Jean Pascal, World Champion. David Lemieux, World Champion. Eleider Alvarez, World Champion. Oscar Rivas, World Champion. Artur Beterbiev, World Champion.
And on the rise and knocking on the doors of the World Championships, Arslanbek Makhmudov, Christian Mbilli and Erik Bazinyan.
A common name for all these titles. Mark Ramsay.
But it’s enough to spend a few days in the clan’s entourage to realize how much Marc Ramsay is also his team. The guys travel all over the world, Sam in Colombia with Eleider Alvarez, Russ in Las Vegas with Jean Pascal, Luc-Vincent with Mbilli in France…
And we’re not talking about John Scully, a veteran New England coach who comes to lend a hand to Artur Beterbiev and ends up in London with the Ramsay’s Boys. Not even from Doctor Francis Fontaine, who is coming to London this week, from the massage therapist and in particular from André Kulesza, the Doctor of Physical Education, who is something of a genius in his field.
Marc Ramsay is the first to recognize it. None of this would be possible without this extraordinarily well-rehearsed team. A team a bit like Ramsay himself, strong in hard heads and made up of men with contrasting personalities.
SAM, RUSS AND LUC VINCENT
The core is formed by the trio of Samuel Décarie, Luc-Vincent Ouellet and Russ Anber.
Marc Ramsay has absolute confidence in her. When he gets into a big brawl, as he did on December 16 at Shawinigan, he does not hesitate to send Décarie and Ouellet to Nantes to oversee and prepare Christian Mbilli. The two share the tasks. Tracking, weight loss, Luc-Vincent plays the role of corner cutman and Sam Décarie the trainer between rounds, giving directions with the same passion as Marc Ramsay himself.
Luc-Vincent Ouellet had a turbulent youth. He is often reserved, almost reclusive, and his great sensitivity is carefully camouflaged behind a gruff demeanor. He has learned a little Russian and often finds the reflection that makes Artur Beterbiev smile.
Sam is the perfect handsome guy. A handsome man, educated like Luc-Vincent but much more outgoing, he speaks English and Spanish and has the gift of absolute discretion. He works a lot with Marie-Ève Dicaire, who is part of the Yvon Michel Group, and with the many boxers of Marc Ramsay. Too many words never come out of his mouth.
Laughing, Marc Ramsay says: “Luc-Vincent and Samuel are completely different. Sam, he’s my diplomat. When you go through customs with a Boxer, he’s always the one driving and answering questions,” he says.
Russ Anber is a legend in the boxing world. He constantly travels four continents. He is a recognized cutman and world champions in all categories keep his services. He was in Manchester last weekend.
Russ is probably THE cutman in America. He will do the work with Beterbiev on Saturday. Luc-Vincent will wrap the champion’s hands and Sam will handle the rest of the logistics on the night of the fight.
THE DAMN COVID
Russ is the owner of Rival boxing gear. You see his gloves all over the TV. And Luc-Vincent Ouellet is his shop steward in the office. They have an idea of the weeks of work they can do.
“I’ve only missed one boxing match in my life. The night Artur Beterbiev was interrupted by a whim from Markus Brown. It was the damn COVID. I miss a night and it’s the fight where I would have had the biggest challenge of my career,” he said with a laugh in London yesterday.
“I like having a guy on the team with as much experience as Russ. He has seen it all and has a solid knowledge of boxing. And then you never get bored with Russ,” emphasizes Ramsay.
If there’s a “boy in Ramsay” that’s a little less present than the others, it’s André Kulesza. But if we look at the physical perfection of Artur Beterbiev, Christian Mbilli or Arslanbek Makhmudov, we understand that this specialist weighs in gold.
Basically, one for all and all for one.
One is called Artur Beterbiev this week
Darryl Sutter or the right to be stupid
Archive photo, Martin Chevalier
Even in London, Quebecers always find a way to talk a little hockey.
It will be L.-P. Nephew, boss of TVA Sports and the one who first lit the bullshit from Calgary Flames coach Darryl Sutter, but Sutter is unified in London.
He can’t be racist. Maybe he’s just an idiot. A wise man once said that between a conspiracy and bullshit, to explain a serious slip-up, nine times out of ten you should always prefer bullshit.
And I would add that between bullshit and vanity, vanity is probably the most dangerous.
With Jakob Pelletier, I can’t imagine Sutter being conceited. So he was… just an idiot.
The danger is that idiots often cause irreparable damage. Perhaps Jonathan Huberdeau bears his share of the blame for the troubles that have hit him with the Flames. But this guy had a 115 point season last year. I can’t wait to chat with his father in Prévost, in the Laurentians.
And during that time, Patrick Roy rode the Remparts.
Drive left
THE CANADIAN VS THE BLACKHAWKS
Photo provided by Julie Bertrand
Artur Beterbiev meets Anthony Yarde in this arena. A beautifully restored building. There, in the shadow of Wembley Stadium, Jacques Demers led the Canadiens in a two-game series against the Chicago Blackhawks in 1992-93. Manon Chouinard was part of the group and Mrs Nicole Corey was in charge of the travel agency. So not a piaster was lost.
Jean-François Chabot, who covers boxing for Radio-Canada, described the fights for TV-Sports, the French equivalent of Screensports.
“Even that I had Jean Béliveau as my analyst for a while in the spring. Mr Béliveau had come to promote the two London games with Élise, his wife and Serge Savard. I only remember that it had cost a butter. »
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL AT ALBERT HALL
Photo provided by Julie Bertrand
London could not accommodate Daniel Lamarre, vice president of the board of Cirque du Soleil and humble columnist. He returned to Montreal on Saturday evening, I arrived on Sunday morning.
But Daniel Lamarre is sitting on another tremendous success.
“We will reach almost 280,000 tickets sold. The normally murderous criticism from the London media has been dithyrambic,” notes Mr Lamarre.
I checked the diary. It could be Thursday evening…I might have a few hours…that depends, you know what life on the streets is like for the proletariat.
LOVELY SAM: THE OTHER BOY!
Photo provided by Julie Bertrand
Sam Décarie couldn’t pose with the other Ramsay’s Boys. He has a good reason. It took someone in Montreal to work with Arslanbek Makhmudov, Christian Mbilli and Erik Bazinyan. But Sam has sent me fifteen photos for me to choose the prettiest ones and it will land in London on Friday morning. A great task awaits…
A SENTIMENTAL PHOTO
Photo provided by Julie Bertrand
This is the Tower Bridge. Here Lady Di would have secretly said yes to Charles. But especially there, Lady Ju accepted my marriage proposal. I had saggy legs.
