The ring is bigger. The opponent is tough and the effort is titanic. One hook at a time, Martine Vallières-Bisson intends to win.
Vallières-Bisson has always evolved in his boxing as she evolved in his life, and vice versa. Following this logic, what she is going through now could well make her the best boxer she has ever been…
When she was told on May 26 that she had breast cancer, the pugilist thought of her dream of becoming world champion. “I who wanted it, my world championship fight, you gave it to me in a funny way, you there,” she thought, looking up at the sky.
Vallières-Bisson is a woman of character. A pleasant woman, she sums it up herself, who likes people. What stands out from his journey is his perseverance. She doesn’t give up.
Never.
His boxing career proves it.
Vallières-Bisson welcomes La Presse to his apartment in Longueuil, a tidy semi-basement; she had time to settle down a little recently, she who is used to having a hectic and busy life.
The boxer had her hair shaved a few weeks ago. “My path was to shave my hair before my first treatment,” she explains to us. I had to do it. »
Vallières-Bisson comes from a “not well-off” background. “I have had my electricity cut off because we have difficulty paying Hydro. Taking baths by candlelight, in cold water… I don’t want to be pitying, but that’s a bit like it,” she sums up.
Initially a hockey player – “I wanted to be the first defender in the National Hockey League,” she remembers – the young woman discovered boxing at the age of 16.
“At one point, [my mother and I] went to a gym in Laval. I will remember it all my life. I opened the door, I stepped in – it was an old gym, it smelled of leather and sweat – and there was no other sentence in my head than: this is my place , here. »
It was the start of something. Something even greater than a passion, something that “cannot be explained”, something “visceral”, which would guide each of his future decisions.
In the early 2000s, there were very few women in boxing.
Vallières-Bisson tells us about his first competition. Shortly before taking the road to Val-d’Or, she learned that her Montreal gym had not paid for her affiliation with the Quebec federation. She therefore could not represent said gym in the competition.
“I absolutely wanted to go there. There is a coach in Saint-Jérôme who decided to take me under his wing. […] I won this competition. But the first competition I win, the Federation forgets the medals! »
The young woman, then in her twenties, then joined a new gym in the West Island. Every day, she traveled two hours on public transport there and back to train for two hours.
“I took a lot of notes. I tried to be self-taught, to observe. Sometimes I went to La Cage aux Sports when there were fights and I took notes on what I saw. »
When the Golden Gloves competition arrived that year, Vallières-Bisson learned that his coach would not show up.
“I said to myself: too bad, I won’t miss the competition. I decided to go to Quebec, telling myself that if I won my first fight, at worst, I was going to sleep in my car. I didn’t have money to pay for the hotel. »
So many anecdotes that give an idea of the perseverance of Vallières-Bisson, who won the Golden Gloves – the qualifications for the Canadian Championships – several times over the years. In adversity, the young woman found solutions.
Vallières-Bisson held different jobs to allow himself to pursue his sport over the years. “I didn’t invest in buildings, I invested in boxing,” she says, smiling.
She was a waitress most of her life. She was also a merchandise stockist at Costco. “I started at 4:30 in the morning, finished early, in the afternoon I trained and in the evening I worked in a restaurant. It was a difficult time in my life, but it was important to me. »
“One person, one day, said to me: you chose boxing, you chose to be poor. Sometimes, it’s true that when I’m discouraged, I say to myself: ayoye, I’m 38, I have nothing. But no, I’m so rich. So rich in travel, discoveries, encounters. »
In 2011, she trained to be an educator in CPEs. Boxing, unsurprisingly, kept a special place in his life.
In 2019, at the age of 35, after finishing amateur boxing, Vallières-Bisson made the jump to professionals. If she did not have a promoter, Eye of the Tiger Management agreed to give her a chance in a gala at the Bell Center on December 7, 2019.
Since then, she has taken part in eight professional fights (6-2-0, 1 KO). “I accept fights that no one would accept, but I have no choice. I don’t have a promoter. It’s been like this from the beginning. […] I don’t make a living from my sport. I pay for all the expenses and fights. »
What were we saying again? Something big, visceral…
As a teenager, Vallières-Bisson saw herself as a “victim of life.” In the ring, she was defensive. She was in survival mode until she got stuck in the cables or started to hurt. That’s when she would spring into action, throwing punches.
Over the years, his mentality has changed. She decided to go for it, to let her guard down. She was no longer a victim. She went head-on, she was aggressive.
“Until I realized at some point that it’s a balance. To become a better boxer, I become a better human, and when I become a better human, I become a better boxer. »
In boxing, as in life, there are times when you have to step back in order to move forward. “Yes, you will take it. Life, it’s not true that it’s rose water. It’s your attitude, to take the time to find a balance in all this hubbub and these actions that happen in a ring. »
On May 26, Vallières-Bisson was diagnosed with breast cancer – she has infiltrating ductal carcinoma. It was undoubtedly one of the most severe uppercuts she had received.
Quickly, she realized she had to go into execution mode. Because “the only control you have in life is over your actions, over what you do and what you say.”
“I can’t fall into victimhood, even if I said to myself: let’s see, tabarnane, that’s enough! If it’s part of my journey, maybe it will be to give even better to others. »
On June 27, the pugilist underwent a partial mastectomy and sentinel lymph node removal. She must now undergo chemotherapy treatments, then will follow radiotherapy and hormone therapy. The chances of remission, she says, “are very good.”
For the first time in 22 years, the friendly athlete has to slow down in the gym. She must listen to herself, listen to her body.
But her dream remains the same: to be world champion. “Maybe it will never happen, but I still believe in it.
“Me, I want to get back in the ring and I want to talk again when this is over and I make my comeback. For me, it’s important. »
So we’ll see you soon.
