Every fight has its preface. We often think it’s born with the first jab, but everything starts much earlier: in the calls that shake up routine, in the plans that shift, in the decisions made behind closed doors. What I want to share with you today is that invisible part, the one where everything is decided long before the gloves go on.
During the fight between Mbilli and Martinez, I tried this travel-diary format to speak about the human being behind the athlete. This time, it’s Leïla Beaudoin who brings me back to it again. And her journey is anything but a straight line.
The context: a rivalry that slept badly
To understand what follows, you need to know the soil it grew from. Leïla studied nursing and dreams of starting a family one day. She knows time matters and dreams of real challenges — fights that change a career.
At the top of the list of fighters who could change a career was one name: Alycia Baumgardner.
A champion, an undisputed champion, yes. But also an opponent with whom a chill had developed. When Baumgardner tested positive in 2023, Leïla spoke out clearly. Strong in her convictions and her training, Leïla advocates for a clean sport. Result: blocked on social media, silence, tension.
The stage was set.
Photo: FB – Leila Beaudoin vs Alycia Baumgardner
The call that shifts a life
One day, Marc Ramsay calls me.
He wants to discuss “a certain fight.” I know. He knows. We dance around it, but everyone understands: it’s THE fight.
Marc asks me to keep it quiet. A heavy task! Not telling Leïla what I know is torture… but I hold back.
A few days later, the contract with MVP is wrapped up.
We set up a conference call with Leïla.
Marc breaks the news.
I pretend to be innocent.
And then the sentence drops:
“Leila, you’re going to fight Alycia Baumgardner on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Gervonta Davis. In the co-main event. In front of millions of viewers on Netflix.”
The kind of news that makes the whole house vibrate.
Photo: Vincent Ethier – Leila Beaudoin
Then, chaos.
Very quickly, the legal complications surrounding Gervonta Davis force MVP and Jake Paul to rethink the entire structure of the event. Dates shift, announcements come and go… until this improbable bombshell:
Jake Paul will fight Anthony Joshua.
A shock that completely redraws the card.
Leïla’s fight is pushed to December 19.
Same venue, different dynamic. The entire preparation cycle has to be recalculated. That’s my chaos…
Recalibrating the impossible
We had just finished a colossal training block: twelve rounds of intense sparring, a real walk through fire. The body was ready, the mind too. And suddenly, we had to extend this climb without breaking it.
A date change shakes everything: internal rhythm, physical load, sleep, nutrition, motivation. With Karim El Hlimi (strength coach) and Jean-François Gaudreau (nutrition advisor), we decide to give Leïla a few days to breathe. A short pause, but essential.
When she returns, we refine. We adjust. We push a bit further. Leïla has never been an “update.” I don’t believe in version 2.0s. She is an accumulation — a patient construction. One drop of sweat at a time.
Photo: Vincent Ethier – Leila Beaudoin vs Elhem Mekhaled
The truth only gyms know
And then there’s what no one sees.
In every training camp, there is a moment when silence speaks louder than the punches.
It’s not a highlight or a knockdown.
It’s a short breath.
A look that holds on.
A hand that trembles slightly while closing a wrap.
That is where the real price of a fight is paid.
These are moments never filmed, but they shape victories. And for Leïla, that path has been rougher than ever.
The real cost of the journey
Since May, she has trained full time. Before that, she balanced nursing studies with daily training. A double mental and physical load that would exhaust many athletes. When she was finally able to dedicate her full days to boxing, her progress accelerated: sharper, more disciplined, clearer.
What brings her here isn’t slogans. It’s everything she refuses, everything she accepts, everything she repeats. It’s the evenings she gives up. The mornings she arrives tired but determined. The technical details she repeats until she loses track of time.
Photo: Leila Beaudoin and Samuel Décarie-Drolet
An exceptional camp
The camp for Baumgardner has been one of the longest and most demanding of her career.
From September 1 to December 19, that’s:
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110 total camp days
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90 real training days
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50 technical sessions
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25 sparring days
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45 conditioning sessions
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150 rounds of sparring
Numbers that don’t show the doubts or the difficult mornings.
They don’t show the moments she stays alone in the gym to fix a detail.
They say nothing of the silent sacrifices, the invisible wear, the real cost of ambition.
What I’ve seen
I see her almost every day. And what strikes me isn’t so much the talent — at a high level, everyone has talent. What impresses me is the consistency, the ability to come back the next day with the same intensity, the same will.
She absorbed a loss and avenged it.
She faced opponent withdrawals, unforeseen events, private and sporting obstacles.
She completed her studies while maintaining professional discipline.
She’s coming off the most impressive performance of her career, stopping Elhem Mekhaled.
Nothing that happens to her is a gift.
She earned it, through sweat, willpower, relentlessness.
And this is only the beginning
This diary entry isn’t a conclusion.
It’s not even the final slope.
It’s only a fragment of the price paid to earn the right to seize a unique opportunity.
The fight is approaching.
Miami awaits us.
And every day, I see the same quiet certainty in her:
she won’t let this opportunity slip through her fingers.
More is coming soon.
Stay close.
We haven’t seen anything yet.
