With a big smile on her lips, Marie-Pier Houle banged with all her might on the cushions presented to her by her trainer, Sébastien Gauthier. “Your timing is really good!” It’s really fun! exclaimed the latter, under the watchful gaze of journalists.
Thursday morning’s public training, carried out in contagious good humor, gave a good idea of the atmosphere that reigns within the Houle team, two days before the departure for Cardiff, in Wales, where the Quebecer will compete his first World Championship fight. On April 22, she will face Britain’s Sandy Ryan for the vacant WBO welterweight title.
“You’ve always seen me come into the ring singing, happy to be there. That’s exactly the feeling I want to feel when I get there,” the pugilist said in a scrum.
Houle has been through a lot of challenges over the past few years. Her father took his own life, her mother fought breast cancer, her husband’s office was destroyed by fire. This is not to mention the death of her opponent in August 2021. But the boxer continued to put one foot in front of the other. She kept fighting, lining up wins and keeping her eyes on her dream.
“I haven’t been through everything I’ve been through in the past two years for it not to end the way I want it to, just when I have the opportunity to shine even brighter. This is not my first rodeo. I saw things that made me feel weird, I had really hard times, times when the world hated me, when I was called names. »
Although this fight is the most important of his career and it takes place in enemy territory, Houle refuses to use the word “stress” to describe the feeling that inhabits him. “Me, the word stress, I hate that. I’m going to be in the right zone, in a good frame of mind. […] I will go and give everything I have to give. »
In Sandy Ryan, Houle will be dealing with a “heavy-handed” boxer who “doesn’t have a huge volume of punches.” The native of Terrebonne therefore intends to impose herself physically. And that means “hitting without stopping.”
“I have my shoulders ready to throw punches like never before. Seb made me practice this like never before. We launched, launched, launched, launched. That’s what we want to do for this fight. Yes, she’s a girl I don’t trust, but I don’t want to see her on a pedestal. She’s not the champion, we’re going there equal and it’s me who will win. »
“I let her hit me in that training camp like no one is going to get hit,” Sébastien Gauthier told La Presse. There is no coach who does what I do. I want so badly for her that she does it well. I put on a helmet. It’s a small price to pay. »
Houle had a strong training camp, despite his busy schedule as a physiotherapy technologist for Evolution physio. Over the past few weeks, she has competed against various Quebec female boxers in training; Sara Kali, Mary Spencer, Jessica Camara… “Everyone wanted to give a little bit of themselves, it was incredible”, notes his trainer.
This fight will also be Houle’s first 10-round duel. That’s two more than in his last encounter. In boxing, four minutes makes a big difference. But Houle claims to have prepared accordingly.
“We did rounds, rounds, rounds nonstop, throwing punches. This is not my first punch. I know that I am physically capable, that I have the energy. The adrenaline of this fight will help me get to the end. »