Photo: Vincent Ethier – For the first time in his young professional career, Thomas Chabot (9-0, 7 KOs) will not be guided by Vincent Auclair or Jessy Ross Thompson (left and right of the photo), but rather by Laszlo Marien.
It’s amazing how quickly the boxing world evolves. Just over a month ago, Thomas Chabot was telling us how eager he was to step back into the ring on March 7th to show the world the adjustments he had made with his trainer Jessy Ross Thompson. March came, ‘The Ghost’ didn’t fight, and when he does on April 11th, it will be Laszlo Marien in his corner.
“What happened is that I was supposed to join Jessy in Florida for my camp on March 7th. Eventually, he told me he got his visa to coach there full time, but for me, it just wasn’t realistic to go down there for every camp,” explains the pride of Thetford Mines.
The divorce is amicable, so we don’t have any dramatic gossip to tell you like TMZ would loves. Nonetheless, Chabot had to react quickly, finding himself without a coach with a fight – until then – scheduled for the following month. That’s where Eye of the Tiger’s development director came in.
“I went to meet Marc Ramsay at his gym, and he gave me a list of potential coaches he saw me working with,” says the one whose choice ultimately fell on Marien, current cornerman for Alexis Barrière.
The perfect match
Among the reasons explaining his decision is the change of scenery, as Chabot was not familiar with the Quebec coach, which piqued his curiosity. On the other hand, familiarity, as Marien’s Fighter’s Pride Academy is located in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, where the super featherweight hopeful’s mother resides.
Finally, after testing, the cornerman’s style sealed the deal.
“He’s a guy who keeps it simple, doesn’t reinvent boxing,” says the one who was looking to get back to basics after a few more complex fights.
“He has a lot of experience in the sport, but also in nutrition and physical preparation, which resonated with me a lot […]. He also brings a good mood that I hadn’t seen in the gym for a long time.”
Third time’s the charm
For the first page of this new chapter, the Quebecer will be in his first fight in over 10 months. As he mentioned last month, healing and rest did him good, but now “it’s time.”
In fact, it’s been time for a while now.
He was supposed to come back last February in Victoriaville, but the event was moved and postponed to Montreal on March 7th. A few days before the fight and under a new federal law, his Mexican opponent, Jose Bernal, was deemed unfit to enter the country, and thus, everything fell through. This brings us to April 11th, where we are now trying to match Chabot against Alfredo ‘Duro’ Espino (5-1-1, 2 KOs), the Mexican who caused a surprise against Jean Gardy François on his last visit to Canada.
New opponent, especially a new coach, but still a new date on the agenda, Thomas Chabot starts fresh in 2024, hoping only that the third time’s the charm and that this time it results in a 10th career victory.
