Green Frame, The boxer who gave Mexico the silver medal in the -71 kilogram category in boxing He shared some of the secrets that led him to win the medalwhere he mentioned that it was fundamentall the mentality and a good defense.
“I never focus on knocking out; I focus on winning each round with the idea of knocking out and not getting hit.”That style is good and I don’t feel the need to take risks,” the boxer explained in an interview with the EFE news agency.
At 22 years old, the young man was one of the revelations of not only Mexican but Latin American sport at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“In Paris It was important to keep a cool head and counterattack well.. At the Olympic Games There is a lot of adrenaline, but my coach, Radamé Hernández, knew how to stop me“That helped me,” he said.
Just over two years ago, the boxer from Mazatlán was an unknown. In April 2022, he won the continental championship in Ecuador, in June 2023 the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador and in October the Pan American Games in Chile, which put him on the map of his division in one fell swoop.
“There was a growth and after that I only had the Olympic Games left. As I won tournaments, I said, I can do it and it happened,” she explains.
He is a 1.80m tall fighter, strong, with a left-handed guard, quick legs like those of a lightweight and skilled at counterpunching. His defense has been one of his best weapons in six years of boxing and thanks to it his face shows no traces of the fights.
Verde made his Olympic debut with a 3-2 victory over Mozambican Tiago Muxanga; in the quarter-finals he beat Indian Nishant Deu 4-1 and in the semi-finals he beat British Lewis Richardson 3-2 to reach the final, which he lost by unanimous vote to Uzbek Asadkhuja Muydinkhujev.
“They were different fights, Against Muxanga and Richardson I used my footwork more; against the Indian it was another fight to the death. They were very close duels in which I made them fall into my game and it worked.
For the gold medal, Muydinkhujaev drew on experience in Olympic boxingbuilt up an advantage in the first two rounds; then he grabbed and did not allow the Mexican to show his class, despite having finished better.
“We lacked international experience; learning that boxing that is so different from Mexican boxing. “The rivals at the Olympics know how to tie up; they are fighters with many fights under their belt,” explained Hernández, who as a trainer takes Verde step by step, without falling into the temptation of turning him into a professional.
Although it was a non-championship fight, the boxer gave notice that Marco Verde was ready for great things last April, when he defeated Cuban two-time Olympic champion Roniel Iglesias by knockout.
Radamé Hernández recognizes that this victory confirmed the growth of the Mexican because the Caribbean is considered in the boxing world as a “big horse” and he could not beat Verde.
He played the final with an injury to his left hand
Few people know that the Mexican won an Olympic silver medal with an injury to his left hand, between the carpus and the metacarpus.The boxer admits that there was pain, but there was more excitement at building the dream of his life.
“Now it’s time for me to recover. I hope to be healthy in a month or so and then work towards what’s next.“concluded Verde, a nutrition student at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, who will be one of the favorites to win the world championship in 2025.
*With information from EFE.
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Marco Verde won the silver medal in Paris 2024
· Mexico surpassed its medal haul from Tokyo 2020 in Paris 2024
Marco Verde secures a medal for Mexico in boxing by qualifying for the final