Boxing News Boxing News
British featherweight Marianne Marston left her London home earlier this week and travelled to America to train full-time under the watchful eyes of legendary Heavyweight World Champion Smokin’ Joe Frazier and his son, Olympic Gold Medallist and heavyweight contender, Marvis Frazier, at their gym in Philadelphia. “She’s going to be the Champ,” said Smokin’ Joe.
“Marianne is one of the hardest working, committed fighters I have seen in a long time,” says Marvis Frazier with a huge grin. “She’s very hard for any fighter to deal with. She’s strong, fast and accurate, has lots of combinations and punches hard, so hard it’s like being hit by a heavyweight.”
Travelling back and forth across time zones and thousands of miles has made it hard for Marianne to maintain a consistent regime. But after taking advice from her main coaches, Marvis Frazier and Val Colbert, she decided it was time to commit completely to boxing by moving to Philadelphia, where she plans to spend six months training full-time at Frazier’s Gym and will make her professional debut under their guidance.
When asked why she chose Frazier’s Gym over the other first class gyms that she has trained at, Marianne smiled and said, “For me it wasn’t a matter of choosing, Frazier’s Gym feels like home and the training team here are without doubt some of the best in the business, if not the best. Just look around this place, it’s full of boxing history.
“This is the gym that Joe trained at when he become World Champion and when he beat Ali – it fires me up, makes me want to work as hard as he did, and hopefully that will lead to me being as successful in this sport as he was.”
