PORTRAIT. Andrei Micallef, on behalf of the son
President of the Monegasque Boxing Association, vice-president of the Monegasque Boxing Federation and recently elected director of the board of the European Boxing Confederation, Andreï Micallef (54) is one of the main figures in the discipline in the Principality. Just like his son, Hugo Micallef, whom he accompanied in his debut, greatly contributed to the advent of the young Monegasque champion.
He still gets shivers. “I said to myself that it was not possible. That day, for the first time in my life, I believed in fate. » However, he had never imagined seeing his son step into a ring. Even less so young. Even less with so many predispositions.
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“From the age of seven, Hugo did like me with my father. He provided me to enroll him in boxing. We were in Valberg one day, during a sports festival. There was football, tennis, lots of disciplines and then… a boxing ring. » Hugo has only one desire: to get on the stage. His adversary is bigger than him. But Hugo does not slip away.
Boxing with the Micallefs, a deep family history
“He made a performance like I have rarely seen for a child who had never boxed. » Before this first fight, the little blond had made his father promise to enroll him in boxing the following school year. “I thought he would forgetsmiles Andreï Micallef. No, he has not been forgotten. So I took him to the ASM Boxe boxing gym. A room that I found years later. »
In Cuba, we both slept with locals, in the poorest slums of the country
Andrei Micallef
Boxing, for Hugo Micallef, is above all a family affair. An overflowing passion, which first stung the father. “In my youth, I was a musician. But I had only one desire, to go boxing. Much to my parents’ dismay. »
Forced to limit his desires in the sporting field so as not to damage his hands, Andreï Micallef spent his youth preserving his body, concentrating on music and drawing. But his inner passion is too strong.
“My father took me to see a world boxing championship in Monaco. It was the first time that I attended a real fight. I fell in love with discipline. » There again, the father cracks – like Andrei many years later with Hugo – and agrees to enroll him in boxing. In total, Andrei Micallef has accumulated 45 fights in his career, for 39 victories and a title of vice-champion of France.
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If his career was interrupted several times, because of his professional activity in particular – he was part of the municipal police of Monaco for a long time – Andreï Micallef never really picked up. “The birth of Hugo changed everything, he acknowledges. A birth that plunged him back into the discipline of his heart.
Father and son, from France to Cuba
“However, I had realized that boxing was no longer for me after a huge knockout that I had received during a fight. I wanted to have a healthy mind in a healthy body. » In the wake of his son, whom he brought to the four parts of France, and even “in Cuba, where we both slept with locals in the poorest slums of the country”Andreï Micallef makes boxing his daily life again.
To the point of going back to the ring one last time. The last time, really? “I promise, yes, it took me a week to recover”, he slips into a smile. It was about ten years ago, against former French boxing champion René Jacquot.
Hugo was a boxer who stands out in the middle, Monegasque, blond with blue eyes, some laughed in front
Andrei Micallef
“We met at an event and he offered to fight with me. I said to myself that he had said it like that, during a discussion. But no, it was serious. I hadn’t fought for twenty years, but we still did two rounds. » Under the gaze of Hugo Micallef, of course.
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Hugo’s first coach, first manager of his career, Andreï Micallef remembers: “Hugo was a boxer who clashed in the middle, Monegasque, blond with blue eyes, some laughed in front”.
But the former Monegasque police officer left the hand a few years ago to Hugo Micallef’s current Spanish coach, Carlos Formento. One more pride for the father of the Monegasque champion, who recently became a professional in the ranks of Top Rank, a legendary promotion company which has notably seen Mohamed Ali or Mike Tyson pass through it.
Deputy director of the Monte-Carlo Casinos for more than twenty years, Andreï Micallef goes to the Canaries as soon as the weather allows him to see his son. All in parallel with his role as president of ASM Boxing, a club which today has 60 licensees, after having counted nearly 200 before the Covid-19 pandemic.
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With this dream, still in the back of my mind, to see Hugo compete for the world belt in his category (-63kg) in a few years in Monaco, in a ring set up on the Place du Casino. “It’s a grand idea, isn’t it? »