A page turns in Yvan Mendy’s career. Saturday evening, in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine), the lightweight of the BCO Pont-Sainte-Maxence delivered his final fight under the aegis of his promoter, Brahim Asloum, signing a logical success by unanimous decision before the ‘Argentinian Miguel Cesario Antin. The former Olympic and world champion of the half-flies is indeed ceasing his promotional activities, in order to devote himself to his candidacy for the presidency of the French Boxing Federation, whose elections are scheduled for next March.
At 35, the Pontois (46V, 5D, 1N now) therefore finds himself without a promoter, but is still looking for a World Championship after which he has been racing for several years. From this perspective, does the withdrawal of Asloum make it more difficult? At the end of the fight, the boxer said in any case “to listen to any offer”. Still holder of the WBA Gold belt, ranked N ° 3 in this federation and N ° 6 in the WBC, he remains well positioned to have his chance on a world scale.
“I have no more time to waste”, assures Yvan Mendy
To reach his goal, Mendy nonetheless “needs a promoter” says his trainer, Giovanni Boggia. “We are looking for one, and Brahim will help us on that, blows the coach. I am not worried, but I do not see the rest. No one travels, so the British and the Americans work together. We’re a bit out of the way, it’s very complicated. The only thing we can do independently, which is in our financial cords, is an IBA World Championship. “
Lightweight manager Mehdi Lafifi is a little less categorical. According to him, “you don’t necessarily need a promoter to make a World Championship. “Brahim has placed us in pole position, the way is marked out,” he adds. We know that we are small, that we come from the Oise, that we are French. It will take a little luck, an alignment of the planets, but the opportunities exist, even if it is more difficult due to the Covid-19. “
For his part, the person confides no longer wanting to follow up on matches in eight rounds, without a stake, like that of Saturday. “It’s the kind of fight where I take risks, where I have everything to lose and the opponent everything to gain,” explains Mendy. There, I want to wait for the right opportunity. I need an exciting challenge. I have no more time to waste, I have 35 pins, osteoarthritis in my hands. It’s a shame that Brahim stops but, in any case, he should have gone abroad. So, all the belts that there are to take, I take them … “
