British Super Bantamweight Marianne ‘Golden Girl’ Marston’s American
visa woes, which prevented her debuting on the undercard of Brian
Cohen’s WBC Americas title fight in South Philadelphia in May, have
been well documented over the past few months, however the plucky
blonde hasn’t been sitting back and sulking instead she has been
training for six hours a day at Rooney’s Boxing Gym in London.
Marianne’s clear ability and dedication hasn’t gone unnoticed by
anyone that has visited Rooney’s Boxing Gym over the past few months,
including Great Britain’s most successful coach of all time, Terry
Edwards MBE, who offered to spend some time coaching her.
The timing of Terry’s offer couldn’t be better as just a few days
earlier Marianne had been contacted by Ivan Cohen of ABB Corp
inc/Bionic Bull Promotions, who promoted the May event that Marianne
was due to debut at, to enquire if she would be able to make their
South Philadelphia event on the 26th September.
During a break in her training schedule Marianne spoke of how this
offer from Terry Edwards came about, "I was doing my normal workout
when John (gym owner John Rooney Jnr) and Terry came into the gym.
John introduced Terry to everyone and then they went out for coffee.
A little later I was sparring with Ben (Welterweight Ben Day), we were
really going at it, we always do. Ben’s great to spar, he doesn’t
treat me like a girl, you know, he doesn’t hold back. He’s slick and
very hard to land a good shot on, a bit like Carl Froch style wise,
you really have to work hard to get to him. We didn’t even notice that
John and Terry had come back and were watching us.
After we finished Terry came over and said I had done really well as
Ben is an awkward fighter to deal with. I couldn’t help thinking that
was a huge compliment, then he blew me away by saying he’d like to
come to the gym and work with me. To say I was excited at the prospect
is an understatement, who wouldn’t be, Terry is the best coach in
England.
I have enjoyed every single second of the time Terry and Dave (Dave
Pocknell, Terry’s number two at Team GB) have spent working with me
and am looking forward to the next session. They are so easy to work
with and I always learn something new that improves my technique.
One of the things I really like about Terry and Dave is that they
teach you the technical side of things as well. l believe this will
really help me when I finally get to fight.
I’ve missed my training with Steve (former IBF Cruiserweight Champion
Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham) and I’m missing all the guy’s at Shulers
(The James Shuler Memorial Gym in West Philadelphia) but can’t
complain too much when I get to work with one of the sports greatest
coaches and get to train at a world class gym like Rooney’s every
day."
During their highly successful tenure as Team GB coaches Terry and
Dave guided such luminaries as Audley Harrison, Amir Khan, James
DeGale, David Price and Tony Jeffries to Olympic glory as well as
securing a World Title for Frankie Gavin and a European Championship
title for Luke Campbell. So just what do these two highly successful
coaches think of their latest charge?
Terry Edwards, who is well known as someone that speaks his mind and
doesn’t pull punches, said of Marianne, "I have been working with
Marianne for the last four weeks and I think she’s made tremendous
strides in that four weeks. I think she has a good style about her,
she’s very gritty and determined. I think that potentially she could
go all the way."
Dave Pocknell then added, "I think her footwork is terrific, she has a
powerful shot with the left hand, her movement is excellent and she
really knows how to control the centre of the ring. I reckon she’s
going to be a really good boxer."
If all goes according to plan Marianne should finally be able to put
all the new knowledge and technique that Terry and Dave have drilled
her with into competitive action in South Philadelphia on the 26th
September. Further details on this event are expected to be announced
shortly.
See you at the Fights.
Thanks for your time.
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