Boxing: Maïva Hamadouche in search of new consecrations

French boxer Maïva Hamadouche.

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Text by: David Kalfa Follow

9 min

Maïva Hamadouche will defend her title of world boxing champion (IBF) for the seventh time, on December 17, 2020 in Milan.

For the Frenchwoman, this fight must end a year 2020 disrupted by the Covid-19 and launch a 2021 season full of challenges: to win another world belt and to qualify for the Tokyo Games to win Olympic gold.

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I feel both serene and impatient,

 " says Maïva Hamadouche before facing Serbian Nina Pavlovic on December 17, 2020 in Milan.

“ 

I'm still looking forward to do battle

,” continues the 31-year-old Frenchwoman.

Because in professional boxing, because of the Covid-19, it took me a long time to get back into the ring

 ”.

After 17 months of waiting, to put it mildly… The one who has been the IBF super featherweight world champion since 2016 has not defended her title since July 2019 and a victory against the Mexican Janeth Perez.

Because of the new coronavirus pandemic, the native of Albi (South West of France), for example, had to give up a fight scheduled in South Korea in February 2020 against Choi Hyun-Mi, world champion in the same weight class from the WBA

[1]

.

As a result, Maïva Hamadouche played only one pro fight in 2019 and must be content with only one other in 2020, she who chained three or four per year at the start of her career.

“ 

It's very frustrating because I train a lot for a few fights.

So I mustn't miss it

, she laughs.

But that's part of the game. When you reach a certain level, you box less and less often

 ”.

Except big underperformance against Pavlovic (or new setback), the one nicknamed "el veneno" should then try to reunite the IBF-WBA belts.

“ 

There are things in the pipes

,” she explains.

The negotiations are already well advanced.

I know the South Korean

will fight the day after my fight, because she, too, hasn't boxed for a very long time.

We risk clashing later.

This is what should happen, logically.

It may be in England or the United States

 ”.

Two big goals in boxing

Becoming the undisputed queen of super-feathers by winning back the WBA, WBO and WBC

[1]

belts

is one of Maïva Hamadouche's great sporting challenges.

She has also signed with the famous promotion company Matchroom Boxing to speed things up a bit, other title holders like Choi Hyun-Mi and Terri Harper being part of this team.

A partnership that should also offer more light to the one who has a record of 21 victories and 1 defeat (against the Belgian Delfine Persoon, in 2015) in 22 matches, with six title defenses in the field.

I am a figure of boxing in France, whatever they say

, she

says

Connoisseurs in France know my level.

On the other hand, the media coverage in France is not what I should have in relation to the boxer that I am.

But I don't necessarily run after that to move forward

 ”.

However, Maïva Hamadouche's other big goal, if it is achieved, should contribute to his exposure to the general public: to qualify for the Tokyo Games and then win the gold medal.

“ 

Over a year ago, I returned to the Olympic boxing circuit

[2]

to prepare for these qualifiers for the Tokyo Games

,” she said.

It's a big goal, even when you're a world champion.

An Olympic title is well worth a world championship.

It marks a career and a life

 ”.

Frenchwoman Maïva Hamadouche in January 2019, during the screening of the film "Creed II".

Corbis via Getty Images - Stephane Cardinale - Corbis

Difficult months

Her compatriot Estelle Mossely, golden at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, can attest to this.

Maïva Hamadouche, who was unable to participate in the 2012 Olympics in London, has therefore decided to launch an assault on the next edition.

But its momentum was stopped short, last March, by the Covid-19.

While she is in London for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (TQO), it is indeed stopped short as a health precaution.

“ 

There was a lot of frustration because I was at this tournament and the next day I found myself practicing in my parking lot

,” she sighs.

 The transition was pretty tough.

I had to take a few days back

 ”.

During the confinement, the person concerned then works hard to maintain her state of form.

Then, when she can finally train again more or less normally, she begins to juggle Olympic boxing and professional boxing, two very different disciplines

[3]

.

Which is anything but simple.

“ 

I'm lucky to have the ability to do both

, she puts into perspective, however.

It takes me about two weeks to switch from one boxing to another.

The good thing is that I have found a boxing that goes well with both styles.

I finally found the one that suits me and that is adaptable to both

 ”.

Two lives saved

If, in the ring, Maïva Hamadouche does not want to give up anything, it would seem that her reflection on her career in the police force has, on the other hand, evolved a lot over the past two years.

The one belonging to the Security and Intervention Company, a unit for maintaining public order, visibly no longer dreams of joining shock factions like the RAID.

The over-solicitation of the police in recent years, in France, has ended up becoming heavy for Maïva Hamadouche, even if the latter has been a little spared from the movement of yellow vests.

“ 

I had the chance through an hourly secondment to be a little protected from all of this

,” she begins.

It's more mentally than it does to me.

See the Champs-Élysées vandalized, the broken windows, all this violence outside… They say that boxing is a violent sport.

But when I see the company and what is happening outside, I tell myself that the real violence is that

 ”.

Two events also greatly nourished his reflection.

In 2018, Maïva Hamadouche saved the life of a Mauritanian migrant, seriously injured in a leg.

An action for which she was also decorated.

In 2019, same situation.

A story that she had however never told the press until this day.

Called one evening to intervene in a fight, the policewoman thus finds herself putting as best she can a bandage on the neck of a migrant dangerously injured in the carotid artery, following a blow from a broken bottle.

When you save someone's life, it's never trivial

, slips the young woman, not a little proud.

It's something great

 ”.

Desires for professional development

Maïva Hamadouche thus changed her perspective: “ 

The public highway aspect, that is to say the repressive side, that doesn't really suit me anymore.

I would see myself more in a prevention dynamic.

I would like to make myself useful by being closer to people.

For example, dealing with situations of violence against women, which is a real scourge in our society, by helping them, by giving them self-defense lessons, by giving them a little "confidence" in themselves.

Or do prevention regarding sexual violence in sport, a subject that really touches me.

 "

She concludes, about her cravings: “ 

I would feel even more useful than now.

In addition, I am now trying to link the boxing champion side and the police side.

And there, I think I found a real link between these two areas.

 "

[1] In professional boxing, there are four major federations that award world championship titles: the IBF, the WBA, the WBC and the WBO.

When an athlete manages to win the belts of two or three federations, he “reunites” the titles.

And when he has all four, he becomes the undisputed world champion.

[2] Until 2012, there were no women's boxing events at the Games.

Then, in 2016, professionals were allowed to compete in the Olympic tournament usually reserved for amateurs.

[3] While professional bouts can last up to 12 rounds of 3 minutes each, matches

in Olympic boxing

are contested over 3 rounds of 3 minutes.

In Olympic boxing, moreover, fighters wear protections.

Finally, the knockouts are rarer there than in pros and it is especially necessary to score points in the eyes of the five judges of the fight.

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