Photo: Vincent Ethier – Thomas Chabot got the win, and not just against Alfredo Espino on May 2nd.
The last few months have been eventful for Thomas Chabot (10-0, 8 KOs) and unfortunately, not in the ring. A complicated fight, an injury, two corner changes and three postponements; the boxing gods did not spare him. His comeback fight on May 2, a 5-round victory against Alfredo Espino (6-2-1, 2 KOs) was therefore much more than a simple return to the arena.
“I was perhaps a little rusty, but above all more anxious than usual,” says the man who had not boxed since June 1, 2022.
He had been waiting for this for more than 10 months, almost a year, so once the work was done, a few tears left his face, a sign that the pressure was finally leaving his shoulders…
Overcoming the doubt
“For me, last year was a wasted year. You come to the events, you see the guys boxing, while you don’t have that luck… It ends up affecting your mind, you question yourself, ask yourself if you have what it takes. I wanted to come back, but above all, after my last performances, I also wanted to prove that to myself.
Globally, some of you may have already seen that video of Teofimo Lopez, from December 2022. Live on ESPN, after a very close victory against Sandor Martin, ‘Teo’ asks his cornermans: ‘Do I still got it?’
The following fight, he offered himself a more convincing victory to become world champion again in an upset win against Josh Taylor.
Doubt is part of boxing and, back in Quebec, Thomas Chabot defeated doubt against Alfredo Espino. Plus, in a much more decisive way than in his last two fights…
Warrior’s Disease
We already heard the legendary Russ Anber talk about ‘puncher disease’, when a boxer relies only on his punching power to win a fight. In the case of Chabot, we can rather speak of ‘warrior disease’.
This syndrome had especially struck him in his last two fights, pushing him to put his boxing aside and go to war against boxers much worse than him. On May 2, ‘The Ghost’ was fighting within himself to put his demons behind him.
“I am a warrior. I’m made for that, to give and take until I’m dead… but unlike him, I can also box,” the Quebecer nuanced, also fighting against his frustrations toward an overweight opponent.
“In my last fight, I was like in a bubble. I had trouble staying in control of myself… and this evening, I wanted to regain that control,” he adds, proud of having been able to “turn things around” when the call trading blow for blow haunted him.
The dream of activity
In this quest for self-control, he also credited his coach, Laszlo Marien, in his corner for the first time. With the ice being now broken, doubt and hauntings behind him, the ghost of Thetford Mines now hopes to return in force, as he did on May 2, but this time, in a much shorter time frame.
“That’s something I told myself to bring me back into the ring as well: ‘you can’t go to war tonight if you want to fight again soon’.”
The card on May 25 and June 6 already seem to be booked. However, the May 2 card, initially scheduled for April 11, clearly demonstrated that it is difficult to predict everything. So if schedule changes are necessary:
“I’ll be ready any time,” Thomas Chabot tells us.
