Photo: Vincent Ethier – Marc Ramsay, current trainer of Artur Beterbiev, Christian Mbilli, Erik Bazinyan, Arslanbek Makhmudov, Mehmet Unal, Jhon Orobio, and Moreno Fendero.
Punching Grace launches a series of interviews highlighting the past, present, and future of some of the most prominent coaches in Quebec boxing. To kick off, it was difficult not to start with the most accomplished among them, both in Quebec and internationally: Marc Ramsay.
The cornerman is always in the shadow of the boxer, but as Marc Ramsay has worked with some of the best, he stepped out of the shadows long ago.
The story of the owner of the Ramsay Boxing Academy has been extensively told. The teenager from Abitibi who wanted to become stronger in hockey, stepping into a boxing gym and somehow never leaving. This same teenager became a man who quickly abandoned hockey for boxing and then the gloves for coaching, always in search of a better future. Once he found his path, he climbed the ranks, one by one, from the amateur national team to the professional ranks. From there, he guided Jean Pascal from the beginning to triumph, also bringing along David Lemieux, Eleider Alvarez, Oscar Rivas, and, to this day, Artur Beterbiev to promised lands. In short, a story of success, far and wide.
But, to avoid redundancy, here we will talk more about what keeps the man motivated, after all these triumphs.
“The first thing is the love of the sport,” he says right off the bat, speaking of a quest for victory “never satisfied,” a perpetual quest shared with his athletes.
The Second Hat
As for the “second thing”: as a coach, in the long run, without necessarily having “fully been around the block” a time came when Ramsay felt he still needed a new challenge. In the fall of 2021, it arrived when he was named head coach and director of development at Eye of the Tiger.
“It’s motivating because it’s not just working with my small team, it’s developing a big team,” he says, working in all spheres of the pyramid: recruitment, training, matchmaking, and all the negotiations that come with it. In addition to this, he follows the work of his fellow coaches to ensure that no tiger lacks anything, ideally bringing some of them to the top…
“Let’s not hide it, they won’t all become world champions, that’s impossible. But within that, there will certainly be a few,” he assures.
“Running his business”
Undoubtedly, it makes for busy days. Take this week, the one starting February 12, for example. At the negotiating table, with Camille Estephan and Antonin Décarie, Arthur Biyarslanov and Shamil Khataev were signed.
Meanwhile, at the Ramsay Boxing Academy, this time with Samuel Décarie-Drolet and Luc-Vincent Ouellet, preparation continued for Unal, Orobio, and Fendero for their respective fights on March 7. We also think of Mbilli and Makhmudov who are back in training. Bazinyan, currently on vacation in Italy, should not be far behind, as well as Beterbiev who will return from Russia, once Ramadan is completed, to prepare for the eagerly awaited showdown against Bivol on June 1.
Fortunately, Marc Ramsay seems good at Tetris.
“It’s a challenge, it always has been. It’s been years since it started rolling. You have to know that to make a living in professional boxing, you have to be able to run your business on several sides. You can’t make a living with just one individual, and there is also a limit to diluting your work with multiple boxers, which is why I have surrounded myself well in recent years.”
Choosing his battles
“I love this sport,” says a man who has no intention of stopping.
Nevertheless, at 51, he doesn’t hide that the days when he had about fifteen athletes under his guidance are over. Beyond taking a breather, focusing on a smaller number of athletes, like his current seven, will allow him to oversee more the rapidly expanding stable that is EOTTM. An expansion that, according to him, can then translate throughout Quebecois boxing.
“We saw it recently, yes with Artur’s fight, but also with everything around it; the visibility it brings for guys like Christian Mbilli, bringing 10,000 people to the arena, but also people like Eddie Hearn, Bob Arum, and ESPN who spend the week here, with Camille and Antonin, discussing other fights to make.”
“Other fights,” because that remains Ramsay’s mentality, that his biggest fight in his career has not yet happened…
The greatest hits
His entry into the major leagues? “At the Bell Centre, the first time I was in the corner of a fight announced by Michael Buffer. I don’t even remember what fight it was, but I remember feeling behind instead of in front of the television for the first time.”
A fight he regrets? “Pascal against Hopkins. We took the lead and let the fight slip away from us. Jean had his share of responsibility, but so did we.”
His greatest victory? “Those in world championships, any of them.”
His most stressful fight? “Jean Pascal’s professional debut. Club Soda was packed, people were talking a lot about it, and I would say that at the time I had less experience with all that, especially with the real risk represented by the opponent.”
The fight he is most proud of? “Eleider against Kovalev. It’s one thing to win a fight when you’re the favorite or when it’s close, but that was something else. We made a plan that we worked on in the gym throughout the training camp, it could have not worked, but that night, it did.”
