Best I trained: Marc Ramsay
Highly regarded trainer Marc Ramsay has been a staple of the Canadian fight scene for nearly 20-years. During that time he has trained five world champions and is currently the lead trainer of reigning IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight titlist Artur Beterbiev.
Ramsay was born in city of Noranda, in the north of Quebec, on April 24, 1972.
In his younger days, Ramsay he enjoyed playing his country’s favorite pastime of ice hockey before his head was turned by the Marvin Hagler-Sugar Ray Leonard super fight in April 1987.
“I had seen publicity in the newspapers and everyone was talking about this great fight,” Ramsay told The Ring. “It was the first time I took the time to watch a boxing match.
“After the Leonard-Hagler fight, I showed up in a boxing gym to prepare myself physically for the ice hockey season. I never went back to playing hockey and I started amateur boxing.”
Although Ramsay only had 15 amateur contests, he had found his calling.
Marc Ramsay (left) working the mitts – Photo by Vincent Ethier
“I started to help my coach in the corner and at 18-years old I was already trainer,” he said. “I quickly understood that it was my place. I then formed my own team.”
It took time and a lot of learning, but over the next decade Ramsay progressed and became the Canadian national amateur coach in 2000. He held the post until after the Athens Olympics in 2004.
“This is one of the most important steps in my coaching career,” he said. “I believe a lot in amateur boxing as a school for boxers but also for trainers. I was able to make my own experience and make a network of contacts still very important today.”
During that time, he notably worked with Jean Pascal and Antonin Décarie.
“We all took our first steps together in professional boxing in early 2005,” Said Ramsay.
Pascal won his first 21 fights before losing his first world title attempt to WBC super middleweight titleholder Carl Froch in Nottingham, England in December 2008.
“It was our first opportunity for a title against a top opponent and in a very special environment when you know the passion of the English fans,” he recalled. “From the first round it was a war… halfway through the fight Carl Froch started to box and won the second part of the fight to deserve the victory. It was quite a good show for the people present.”
Pascal didn’t have to wait long for a second world title opportunity, and became Ramsay’s first world champion when he claimed the WBC light heavyweight title by beating Adrian Diaconu at the Bell Centre, Montreal.
“We received an offer to face Diaconu immediately after the fight with Froch,” he said. “It was an excellent timing. Jean had more and more trouble to make the weight at 168 pounds and it was a fight between two boxers from Montreal, so there was a lot of interest in this fight in Canada.
“With the experience of the fight with Froch we were able to control Jean’s emotions and make a more disciplined fight to win the world title.”
Since then, Ramsay has helped four other fighters to obtain championship belts. Pascal was followed by David Lemieux, who annexed the IBF middleweight title in 2015. Artur Beterbiev is the reigning IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight titles. Eleider Alvarez shocked Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight championship in 2018. Most recently, Oscar Rivas became the inaugural WBC bridgerweight championship in 2021 before vacating the belt (not recognized by The Ring) due to an injury.
Ramsay also trains the likes of heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov, super middleweight contenders Christian Mbilli and Erik Bazinyan, and is also the Eye of The Tiger Development director and boxing consultant.
Marc Ramsay – Photo by Vincent Ethier
“The goal with all the boxers I engage with is to become world champion,” he said. “Of course, not all become world champions, but that remains our objective.”
Ramsay, now 51, is married, has three children lives in Montreal.
He graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best fighters he trained in ten key categories.
BEST JAB
Eleider Alvarez: “Long and very explosive jab, exceptional timing.”
BEST DEFENSE
Antonin Décarie: “Antonin had a tight defense and was very good at breaking the distances between him and his opponent, but above all his transition between offensive and defensive work was very effective. He had great defense.”
BEST HANDSPEED
Jean Pascal: “At the peak of his career Jean Pascal had the fastest and most explosive hands in his division. Several have tried to mix it up with him without success.”
BEST FOOTWORK
Pascal: “When Jean was at his best his footwork was just superior. Jean won his first world championship with a strategy based on his movements. When he gave a first loss to Chad Dawson the strategy was based on movement.”
SMARTEST
Artur Beterbiev: “Artur’s understanding of his opponents when we watch video is just from another level. He’s a guy who never watches boxing, but when he studies an opponent or when he watches his own sparring his analysis is excellent. Christian Mbilli has the capacity to take new info on the fly and apply the night of the fight, you can give him many different directions in a fight and he will switch just like that. I would pick Artur, he’s a pressure fighter but he’s so much more than that, his ring IQ is superior and that is why the educated pressure has helped him beat the likes of Oleksandr Gvozdyk.”
STRONGEST
Beterbiev: “You have to see him training every day to understand where this strength comes from. I think it’s several factors. First, it’s genetics and technique, but above all a series of physical exercises that Artur has been practicing now for a very long time. He is No. 1 in the whole industry in this department.”
BEST PUNCHER
Beterbiev: “All of Artur’s punches sound powerful and he doesn’t need space to generate power. Lemieux’s left hook was so explosive. One mistake and the opponent will wake up in the locker room. Out of the two, I would pick Artur.”
BEST CHIN
Oscar Rivas: “Oscar Rivas is only 6 feet tall and weighed an average of 225 pounds throughout his amateur career that led him to the Olympics and his professional career where he was fighting as a heavyweight. You can’t have a career like his without having a chin of concrete. He never went down.”
BEST BOXING SKILLS
Beterbiev: “When I look at it in a global way Artur can do everything in a ring and apply almost any strategy.”
BEST OVERALL
Beterbiev: “He is the most complete boxer that I have had the chance to train.”
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk.
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