MightyGloves.com

BREAKING NEWS: Britain's Marianne "Golden Girl" Marston Knocked Out ...By The American Embassy In London!

posted by mightygloves.com on April 9, 2009, in Press Release

English Super Bantamweight boxer, Marianne 'Golden Girl' Marston, who is
due to be on the under card of Brian Cohen's WBC Americas Title Fight in
South Philadelphia on 9th May, suffered a further setback in her
professional boxing career when the American Embassy in London refused her
visa application.

After regularly traveling back and forth to America to train for over two
years, on the visa waiver system, with no problems as well as having
contacted the London Consular by e.mail to verify which visa she should
apply for, Marianne had expected her visa application to be a formality.

Marianne is expecting further repercussions from her failure to secure a
visa, as her contract with sports clothing and equipment manufacturer,
Pugilist Urban Garments, is reliant on her being in America as part of the
promotion of their P.U.G. Athletic brand into the $50 Billion American
Sporting goods market in 2009.

Both Marianne's contracts with Team 'USS'Cunningham, who represent and
train her in America, and the May 9th event promoters, ABBCorp, Inc. and
Bionic Bull Enterprises, are also on the basis of her securing the visa.
Her not being able to make the 9th May fight is particularly worrying for
Marianne as Donna Cohen, of ABBCorp, Inc. and Bionic Bull Enterprises, had
made an offer of a twelve fight contract between May 2009 and Dec 2010.

Marianne, a protégé of legendary Heavyweight boxing champion of the World
Smokin' Joe Frazier and former IBF Cruiserweight World Champion, Steve
'USS' Cunningham, spoke of her feelings during her daily training session
at Gleason's Gym near Tower Bridge in London. "I can't believe that they
refused my visa again. I originally applied in March so I could return to
Philadelphia to resume training with Steve ('USS' Cunningham) and Shar'ron
(Baker) in preparation for my anticipated pro-debut.

The guy that interviewed me at the Embassy in March said he was refusing
my application because I don't have adequate socioeconomic ties with the
UK, not much family here or a job, and as such doesn't feel I would return
here. He also said my boxing is just a "hobby". I found that unbelievably
insulting. I'm English born and bred, London is my home and always will
be. It's not my fault I only have two close family members still living
and Boxing is my job, I can get plenty of fights in America. I am aware
that the chances of getting many fights here in the UK is very slim as
there just aren't many female pro-fighters here.

As for my not returning to the UK, I have been going to America for the
past couple of years to train, firstly at Joe's (Smokin' Joe Frazier) and
then at Shuler's (The James Shuler Memorial Gym) on the visa waiver
system, I've never abused it, I always returned within the 90 days. If I
was going to stay illegally surely I would have done it then, not after
going to the trouble of applying for a visa.

Yes, I accept I'm an amateur by definition as I have yet to have my
pro-debut fight, but I am a professional in reality. Boxing is my life and
now it is the way I make a living. They don't realise how hard I train.
It's not a hobby, I run between 3 and 17 miles in the morning, then spend
between 4 and 5 hours in the afternoon training at the gym.

I reapplied for my visa after P.U.G. renewed my sponsorship and I had been
e.mailed the contract to fight on May 9th. These were already being
discussed, but had not been sorted, before my first application so I
didn't mention them. I supplied the contracts from P.U.G. and the promoter
but the guy who interviewed me the second time said I have just changed my
story and the refusal still stands. It makes me wonder if they don't
believe that a woman could make a career of being a professional boxer.

I'm flabbergasted, I have been waiting so long for my professional debut,
I was supposed to debut last May but Frazier's closed down and I was left
without a gym, trainers or management. Then in August, as I was preparing
for a fight in New Jersey, I burst my Achilles tendon. I was on the Casino
Battle Royale card for January this year, I'd even made my appointment for
a visa interview back then, but as the whole event got canceled I put the
interview back to March so I could get back in time for Steve's fight
(Steve 'USS' Cunningham - Tomasz Adamek's IBF Cruiserweight World
Championship bout on December 11th '08), now this happens. It feels like
I'll never actually get to fight.

I'm not going to give up though, I'm still training hard just in case we
can get this sorted and I can get to fight. "

Marianne's professional debut was due to be on the under card of
Philadelphia's Brian Cohen WBC Americas Light Heavyweight title fight on
May 9th 2009 at the South Philadelphia High School. Marianne's bout would
have been one of three female bouts on the ten fight card. Promoter Donna
Cohen is a big supporter of Women's boxing and every event she promotes
includes at least one female match-up.

www.mariannemarston.com

For tickets and further details for the event at South Philadelphia High
School please contact:

Donna Cohen
ABBCorp, Inc. & Bionic Bull Enterprise
Tel: 215 755 8155

- END -

EDITORS NOTES:

Marianne "Golden Girl" Marston

Marianne came into boxing a lot later in life than most fighters tend to,
but in other ways she has been a competitive athlete and a fighter all her
life.

At a young age Marianne trained at fencing (foil) by age fifteen she was
seeded sixth in England (Under 16's) and had already beaten the number one
seed in competition. Marianne was selected to represent her country, but
her mother decided that Marianne could not participate due to the length
of time she would need to take off school.

Marianne also competed for the Norwich Penguins swimming squad.

At the age of 24, Marianne was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer,
after two years of treatment her consultant advised operating to prevent
the cancer spreading. The operation was unsuccessful so one year later she
underwent surgery for a second time. This time it was successful.

Marianne, who worked as a researcher for a television production company,
became ill again a few years later whilst in America, at first this was
thought to be food poisoning, but as the extreme pain and her drastic
weight loss continued it was clear it was something more serious. After
six months of tests at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London,
Marianne's weight had dropped to less than 80lbs. Eventually the
consultant diagnosed Marianne as suffering from a particularly severe form
of Coeliacs Disease, an autoimmune disease where the body is incapable of
digesting gluten - a protein found in cereals.

It was while recovering from the serious effects of this illness that
Marianne went to her local LA Fitness to get fit again. Whilst there she
spoke with personal trainer, Choleton Senior, who it turned out was a
former boxer until he lost a leg in a motorcycle accident. Choleton
started teaching Marianne basic boxing and was impressed at her natural
ability. He stepped the training up and Marianne stepped up accordingly,
Choleton advised Marianne that she should find a boxing gym as he believed
she had what it takes to progress in the sport.

Following his advice Marianne joined Gleason's gym near Tower Bridge in
London. She was assigned a trainer, Joe Kenwright - one of the England
Amateur Boxing Team coaches. Joe was so pleased with the ability of his
charge that after one of her sparring sessions, in which Marianne sent her
professional opponent (a lightweight with a 13-0 record) to the canvas
twice with her lightning fast combinations, he suggested to Marianne she
should look towards professional boxing in America as there were so few
British female professional fighters in any class that she would not be
guaranteed to obtain fights in the UK.

Whilst training at Gleason's, John Rooney, who not only owned the gym but
also P.U.G. Athletic a boxing equipment was impressed by Marianne so much
that he decided to sponsor her training and equipment.

In 2007, Marianne who was already visiting America on business, New York,
Boston, LA and Philadelphia, had already been training at Freddie Roach's
gym in LA and Francisco Mendez's gym in New York when she was in those
cities decided to try and find a gym in Philadelphia as she spent more
time there than any other city in America. She had made an appointment to
visit Joe Hand's gym when by accident she met legendary heavyweight world
champion Smokin' Joe Frazier who on discovering she boxed invited her to
try out for him at his North Philadelphia gym.

Joe Frazier was so impressed that he asked her to be part of Team Frazier
as he wanted to train her. In October Joe told Marianne that her only
being able to train with his team for 4-6 weeks every couple of months was
not helping her and suggested she committed herself to spending 6 months
in Philadelphia so he could get her ready to turn professional.

In February 2008 Marianne made the decision to spend six months in
Philadelphia, split into two three month visits, and took a lease on an
apartment. Just over one month after she had done this Smokin' Joe
Frazier's was forced to close. Marianne's dreams were shattered as she now
not only didn't have a gym but also no management or trainers.

Eventually Marianne was advised to try out at James Shuler Memorial Gym in
West Philadelphia. Marianne had found a new 'home' and got straight back
to training for her professional debut. A date was set for August 2009 but
shortly after she sustained a burst Achilles tendon and had to return to
London for treatment.

On her return Marianne was invited to be part of Team 'USS' Cunningham by
then IBF cruiserweight champion Steve 'USS' Cunningham and his
wife/manager, Livvy and was also offered to be on the card of the January
24th 2009 Casino Battle Royale event in Atlantic City. In December this
event was canceled.

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