It should come as no surprise to see a moving truck at Kim Clavel’s home in the coming months. Because if the Montreal pugilist realizes her dream on October 7, then her current home may not be big enough to add two world championship belts.
At least that’s what we could learn from an amusing exchange between Clavel and Yvon Michel, during a videoconference Thursday morning.
“How many belts have you won since the start of your career, Kim?” “, first asked the president of the Group Yvon Michel (GYM).
” One two three four. There, I have four belts. I have four belts,” Clavel calculated after turning his head to count.
“Don’t you have five? “, suggested Michel, after a few seconds of hesitation.
“One, two, three…ah yes, five belts. Five,” she corroborated.
“Do you have room for two more?” “, then asked him Michel.
This anecdote illustrates how determined Clavel (17-1-0, 3 KOs) is to win the WBO and IBF light flyweight unification world championship fight that she will deliver to Argentina’s Evelyn Nazarena Bermúdez (18-1-1, 6 KOs) at Place Bell, in Laval, in a little over two months.
To explain as clearly as possible the state of mind that already animates him, Clavel used the recent journey of his next opponent.
Bermúdez was world champion when she was dethroned in November 2022. But quickly she found her way back to winning ways, and she won two world titles when she defeated Tania Enríquez last March.
“I’m happy, I’m motivated. I just want to remind Bermúdez what an amazing performance she had against Tania Enríquez. When she lost her titles and had to go rebox to regain them, how she had the knife between her teeth. Let her remember her state of mind; that’s my mindset at the moment,” Clavel said, grateful that Bermúdez will travel to Canada for this fight.
These ambitions, Clavel expressed them to Bermúdez who, despite the language barrier, participated in this videoconference. In Spanish, Clavel informed Argentina that they were aiming for their two belts, to which Bermúdez replied, with the help of an interpreter, that she intended to fight very hard to retain them.
In announcing the holding of this fight, Michel insisted on the fact that the Montrealer will not have an easy task against Argentina.
“Beating a champion is not like going after a vacant title. Bermúdez is a seasoned champion, having already fought nine world title fights. She won seven, one loss and one draw,” noted the promoter and president of GYM.
It is not Clavel who will contradict the promoter on the magnitude of the task. Moreover, the Montrealer has several times sung the praises of her opponent during the videoconference.
“It’s going to take hard work, it’s going to be hard, this preparation. I know what to expect. Every day is going to be difficult because Bermúdez is a girl with character, who will fight until the last second. »
Clavel will be fighting his third fight in 2023, and his third straight outing at Place Bell.
In her last in-ring appearance on May 12, Clavel defeated Naomi Arellano Reyes by unanimous decision.
Four months earlier, at the same venue, she had suffered the only loss of her career to Mexico’s Yesica Nery Plata, also by unanimous decision, in a light flyweight unification world championship bout.
However, Clavel intends to use his two most recent outings, and the previous one against Yesenia Gómez, in July 2022, to overcome his opponent.
“I feel like my fight against Gómez, my fight against Plata and my fight against Reyes gave me the tools to be able to beat a girl like Bermúdez. My last two years, nothing happened for nothing; everything was designed for me to go and beat a girl like Bermúdez. »
The fight between Clavel and Bermúdez will be the star clash of a gala which, Michel hopes, will include six other duels.
At present, GYM’s intention is to offer Derek Pomerleau, Caroline Veyre, Marie-Pier Houle and Sébastien Bouchard an opportunity to assert themselves against opponents whose identity should be known within a fortnight.
The other two fights of this evening, called La Reconquête, should be reserved for two pugilists who will have participated in the GYM gala on September 7 at the Casino de Montreal.
