Exclusive: Christian Mbilli’s Trainer, Marc Ramsay, on Canelo Alvarez: ‘We’ve Wanted Him For A Long Time’

Marc Ramsay is a trainer who won’t mince his words. No nonsensical bullsh*t will pass his lips. “To be honest, it’s a fight that everybody wants for money,” Ramsay admits ahead of Christian Mbilli facing Canelo Alvarez. “But beyond that, this is the challenge Mbilli wants. This is the challenge. He wants to face the best guy possible. We’ve wanted him for a long time. We really believe that we can do something with this fight. We have had some indication in the last couple of fights of Canelo’s that we have a good chance at winning this fight, and we want to try that challenge as a team.”

Ramsay is one of boxing’s finest. An old-school coach who flies under the radar despite his phenomenal success. After guiding Jean Pascal, David Lemieux, Eleider Alvarez, Oscar Rivas and Artur Beterbiev to world championship glory, the latest champion produced out of his Canada gym is Christian Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs). Born in Cameroon but raised in France, Ramsay first spotted Mbilli for the French national team on a trip that turned into a scouting mission almost a decade ago.

“The first time I saw him, he was with the French national team. In the beginning, I didn’t contact him. I just started following every tournament he was doing, looking at his performances. I contacted him for the first time maybe one year before the Olympic Games. I liked his style for the professional ranks. I thought he had what you need to have a good transition to a professional. So he came to Montreal. We had a handshake agreement, but I didn’t want to bother him too much because the Olympic Games were very close. I told him we’re going to talk together after the Olympics. Focus on the Games. That is exactly what we did.

“He was exactly like he is now. A very intense guy, a pressure fighter. And a little bit like Artur Beterbiev, he was able to win international amateur tournaments without the right style, with a professional style. There is more and more space now between what you need as an amateur boxer to succeed and as a professional. He was maybe not the best guy on the team, on the French team. Guys like Tony Yoka were there. But when you look at him, he had the best potential to become a good professional. From our first meeting, I could see I had a very determined young man, very smart. He knew what he wanted in life. He’s ready to pay the price to reach that success. And from the first day, it was very clear that there was a very disciplined young man.”

Mbilli and Ramsay embarked on their journey as a professional fighter and coach duo on February 9, 2017. To this day, they’ve gone into battle side by side no less than 30 times, emerging victorious on 29 occasions and never tasting defeat. Just triumph. With gold draped around his waist, Mbilli, once avoided like the f*cking plague, now has a target on his back. Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs) knows that feeling. He is now doing the chasing like Mbilli had done for so long.

“I don’t know if it’s the right time because he would probably like to prove a point after he’s lost with Crawford.” Ramsay said, “I didn’t see that much slowing down from him. He looked like he’s very healthy and he’s still very physically very, very strong. I think even five years ago that was for us the right moment. I tried to explain to Christian at one point, it’s not about what you want in professional boxing; it’s about the politics of the game. It’s also that you’ve got to put yourself in that position with good performances, with good wins. Let’s say winning the title, that’s going to give you that opportunity. It’s not to go on social media and ask for a fight. Nobody will give you a fight like that and this is what he did, step by step.”

Right now the work is happening in the gym. Behind closed doors. So no f*cker can see. Blood, sweat and tears are shed between those four walls. The sounds of rope slapping the floor seeps through the cracks of the doors. The thudding of leather pounding bags, pads and bodies. Training camp is not for the faint-hearted. But, what is Mbilli really like to coach?

“He doesn’t accept losing a round. He doesn’t accept losing a sprint. He doesn’t accept losing a weightlifting challenge with the other boxers in the gym. He’s very competitive and he pushes himself. He pushes himself over the limit all the time. When you see the same group of boxers that you saw at the Olympics five years or 10 years ago. Everybody’s good. But not everybody has that work ethic and can push themselves that much. And this is what makes the difference at the top level.”

Alvarez has fought at light heavyweight, and even at super middleweight, the Mexican’s weight far exceeds the 168lb limit by the time he steps into the ring. To combat this, Ramsay has called upon some heavy artillery for sparring.

“Maybe not sparring with Artur Beterbiev, but we have guys who are physically very, very strong. I already chose who, but I will not name my sparring partners, but the shopping is already done for this, and we have, of course, guys who physically can impose themself because we know that Canelo is so strong physically. I think Canelo is a danger for everybody. Like I say, he’s physically very strong and has very good power. Even though he started very light and now he’s going through the weights to Super Middleweight, he still carries that power with him and he’s a good complete fighter. He’s a better fighter than what people think. He’s good offensively and defensively. The transition between offence and defence is also very good. Rolling with the punch, a good chin. There are a lot of aspects you have to deal with.”

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Although complimentary, Ramsay believes he has identified weaknesses in Canelo that outweigh his strengths.

“When you see a boxer losing a bout, you can see what made him uncomfortable. We take notes from the first fights that he lost against Terence Crawford and also Dmitry Bivol. There are some elements in every fight that you can see that this fighter is comfortable there, but with that kind of stuff, it’s not comfortable. Of course we have to bring this, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be also the mix between Christian and Canelo. It’s not about what people do or what Mayweather did or what Crawford did; it’s maybe not something that we can bring at the same level, but we can bring something different than those boxers. It’s just to make sure that we understand the opponent, his style, and to make sure that this is the right fit with us.”

Similar to when he took Artur Beterbiev to war with Dmitry Bivol, Ramsay relishes the elite-level battles as a coach. His tactics. His game plan. Will it work? Will it fail? The ultimate pressure weighing down on him, as if he had Tyson Fury leaning on him with his back against the ropes, stealing the breath from his body.

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“If you cannot deal with that pressure, then this is not the place for you. As a boxer, as a trainer, this is part of the job. I see it more as an opportunity than pressure. This is a challenge for all of the team, the coaching staff, and the boxer. Of course you want these kinds of fights. I could win a sixth world title with a sixth different guy. The one that maybe gave me the most satisfaction is when we knocked out Kovalev with Eleider Alvarez back in the day. Why? Because nobody was expecting that result and they went to that training camp believing we had a plan and we worked. Sometimes you do all that work and you don’t have the same result, but that fight we got the result and so much satisfaction. We want to try to have that feeling again.”

Would Mbilli beating Canelo be as big a shock as Canelo’s win? Maybe not, especially if they believe the blueprint to victory has been exposed. But it would be just as gratifying. It would certainly put Mbilli’s name firmly on the map as one of boxing’s monsters. Naoya Inoue, David Benavidez, Jai Opetaia… Christian Mbilli?

James Lupton

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