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Kallen, Roach, Scully In His Corner
“SHARP SHOOTER’ AIMS TO GO FROM ****** TO GETMO
By FIONA MANNING
Staff Writer www.fightnightnews.com
MANCHESTER, CT: They say fighters don’t come from Beverly Hills, they come from the ******. But what happens when the ****** is of a fighter’s own making?
Just 20-years old, Matt Remillard (9-0, 6 KOs) is on the verge of huge things; one of the most-watched guys in the ranks of the up-and-comers. On July 21, the rising super featherweight fights on the undercard of Steven Luevano vs Cristobal Cruz at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Mashantucket, CT.
But things weren’t always so rosy for the kid they call ‘Sharp Shooter.”
“I could have had a great childhood,” Remillard said. “But I chose a different path. Picked the wrong people to hang with. It got me into a lot of trouble. I just didn’t appreciate how great my parents really were to me.”
When he was 13, Remillard got involved with a local tough in his hometown of Manchester. “This guy, my so-called best friend, invited me to go a house he was supposedly watching. He broke in and stole a couple of things.”
The local police made a deal with Matt. They sentenced him to three years community service at the Manchester Police Athletic League. If he did well, his record would be wiped clean.
“The crazy part of this story is that a couple days after showing up at the boxing gym and cleaning the spit bucket, cleaning the windows and taking out the garbage, I ran into my friend who was riding around in a stolen car.
“He pulled over and said, ‘Come on man, let’s go for a ride.’
“But I was on a straight streak. I wanted to do good. It wasn’t that I was having fun at that gym. Being a boxing gym, you can imagine how dirty it got, but I was determined to turn my life around.
“I didn’t get into that car. I kept on walking. That night, my friend crashed that car and became paralyzed for life. My other friend who was a passenger in the car, he was arrested and the first night in jail, he hung himself.”
Remillard has bitter memories of time wasted, lives lost, of what might have been. “All the guys I hung with then, are all either dead or they’re in jail.” he said.
Boxing was his salvation. It got him a clean record and a career in which he is touted to be the Next Big Thing. People in Manchester consider Matt Remillard a hero.
“It shocks me when adults turn up at the gym to watch me work out,” he said. “They read my name in the paper and want to come in and meet me. I think about where I was a few years ago and I realize just how far I have come.”
He impressed his trainer, Paul Cichon, who told him way back then: “You can fight on the streets and get arrested, or you can fight in the gym and win a trophy.” Remillard didn’t have to think very hard about that.
“I was all about winning a trophy. As I started fighting in the amateurs, I kept all my trophies and ribbons in my room. My dad and I watched all the ESPN Classic fights. I loved watching Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier and back even further, fighters like Willie Pep. I wasn’t watching to see who would win, I was watching to pick up on little things.”
Now his dad, Michael works the corner of all his fights – “He’ll be there until the very last fight,”- and he still works with Paul Cichon and assistant trainer "Iceman" John Scully.
“They’re like family to me. The thing about John that I love is that he used to be a fighter. He knows exactly what I am going through. He used to be there. We are like a family. I trust them because we have a friendship outside of boxing. I trust them with my life.”
He is also proud of his association with his manager, boxing’s Hillary Clint, First Lady, Jackie Kallen who has been searching for a long, long time to find her next world champion. She feels she has found him.
“He is just a great kid,” Kallen said. “He never complains about anything, even if the opponent turns out a little bigger than we expected. He just fights everybody we put in front of him. His opponent for this fight on the 21st, Mike Pare just pulled out, but he isn’t too worried about it. He’ll fight whoever we bring to the ring.”
Kallen feels Remillard is something of a throwback in an era when fighters want it to be easy.
“He is ready for prime time,” she said, impressed with the way her charge handled himself when she brought him to LA and secured him some very tough sparring with Manny Pacquiao.
Having witnessed those blistering sessions, I am inclined to agree with Pacquaio’s trainer Freddie Roach’s assessment.
“This is the kid to watch,” Roach said. “He thinks, he has a plan and he is able to get off perfect shots. He was never intimidated by Manny. Not for a second.”
For Kallen, who is ringside for every fight, these attributes are the very reason she took on the challenge of building a fighter from the ground up: “He is able to adjust very quickly,” she said. “He’s a real technician. He has the ability to put his career ahead of a girlfriend and family and that’s what it takes.”
He may be a ‘Sharp Shooter,” but Matt Remillard feels he is still learning.
“I watch boxing all the time. I think my division and the featherweight division are very talented. I try to watch all the up-and-coming guys, but the two guys I most like to watch are Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero and I’ve been watching Rocky Juarez fight ever since he was in the Olympic trials.”
And still, he sweats it out at Manchester PAL, the same guy he was – though nobody asks him to take the trash out anymore.
“Manchester is not the place it used to be,” he said. “Downtown is not the best place to hang out. You know, my former friend who’s paralyzed, I still see him around town but we don’t speak anymore.
“I don’t know if it’s jealousy for what my life has become or hatred. With the neighborhood thing, once you turn your back on that life, you’re an enemy. Boxing changed my life. Boxing is a part of me. And it is in my blood.”
Champ or chump? Time will tell. But Kallen, Roach and Scully rarely waste time with chumps.
“SHARP SHOOTER’ AIMS TO GO FROM ****** TO GETMO
By FIONA MANNING
Staff Writer www.fightnightnews.com
MANCHESTER, CT: They say fighters don’t come from Beverly Hills, they come from the ******. But what happens when the ****** is of a fighter’s own making?
Just 20-years old, Matt Remillard (9-0, 6 KOs) is on the verge of huge things; one of the most-watched guys in the ranks of the up-and-comers. On July 21, the rising super featherweight fights on the undercard of Steven Luevano vs Cristobal Cruz at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Mashantucket, CT.
But things weren’t always so rosy for the kid they call ‘Sharp Shooter.”
“I could have had a great childhood,” Remillard said. “But I chose a different path. Picked the wrong people to hang with. It got me into a lot of trouble. I just didn’t appreciate how great my parents really were to me.”
When he was 13, Remillard got involved with a local tough in his hometown of Manchester. “This guy, my so-called best friend, invited me to go a house he was supposedly watching. He broke in and stole a couple of things.”
The local police made a deal with Matt. They sentenced him to three years community service at the Manchester Police Athletic League. If he did well, his record would be wiped clean.
“The crazy part of this story is that a couple days after showing up at the boxing gym and cleaning the spit bucket, cleaning the windows and taking out the garbage, I ran into my friend who was riding around in a stolen car.
“He pulled over and said, ‘Come on man, let’s go for a ride.’
“But I was on a straight streak. I wanted to do good. It wasn’t that I was having fun at that gym. Being a boxing gym, you can imagine how dirty it got, but I was determined to turn my life around.
“I didn’t get into that car. I kept on walking. That night, my friend crashed that car and became paralyzed for life. My other friend who was a passenger in the car, he was arrested and the first night in jail, he hung himself.”
Remillard has bitter memories of time wasted, lives lost, of what might have been. “All the guys I hung with then, are all either dead or they’re in jail.” he said.
Boxing was his salvation. It got him a clean record and a career in which he is touted to be the Next Big Thing. People in Manchester consider Matt Remillard a hero.
“It shocks me when adults turn up at the gym to watch me work out,” he said. “They read my name in the paper and want to come in and meet me. I think about where I was a few years ago and I realize just how far I have come.”
He impressed his trainer, Paul Cichon, who told him way back then: “You can fight on the streets and get arrested, or you can fight in the gym and win a trophy.” Remillard didn’t have to think very hard about that.
“I was all about winning a trophy. As I started fighting in the amateurs, I kept all my trophies and ribbons in my room. My dad and I watched all the ESPN Classic fights. I loved watching Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier and back even further, fighters like Willie Pep. I wasn’t watching to see who would win, I was watching to pick up on little things.”
Now his dad, Michael works the corner of all his fights – “He’ll be there until the very last fight,”- and he still works with Paul Cichon and assistant trainer "Iceman" John Scully.
“They’re like family to me. The thing about John that I love is that he used to be a fighter. He knows exactly what I am going through. He used to be there. We are like a family. I trust them because we have a friendship outside of boxing. I trust them with my life.”
He is also proud of his association with his manager, boxing’s Hillary Clint, First Lady, Jackie Kallen who has been searching for a long, long time to find her next world champion. She feels she has found him.
“He is just a great kid,” Kallen said. “He never complains about anything, even if the opponent turns out a little bigger than we expected. He just fights everybody we put in front of him. His opponent for this fight on the 21st, Mike Pare just pulled out, but he isn’t too worried about it. He’ll fight whoever we bring to the ring.”
Kallen feels Remillard is something of a throwback in an era when fighters want it to be easy.
“He is ready for prime time,” she said, impressed with the way her charge handled himself when she brought him to LA and secured him some very tough sparring with Manny Pacquiao.
Having witnessed those blistering sessions, I am inclined to agree with Pacquaio’s trainer Freddie Roach’s assessment.
“This is the kid to watch,” Roach said. “He thinks, he has a plan and he is able to get off perfect shots. He was never intimidated by Manny. Not for a second.”
For Kallen, who is ringside for every fight, these attributes are the very reason she took on the challenge of building a fighter from the ground up: “He is able to adjust very quickly,” she said. “He’s a real technician. He has the ability to put his career ahead of a girlfriend and family and that’s what it takes.”
He may be a ‘Sharp Shooter,” but Matt Remillard feels he is still learning.
“I watch boxing all the time. I think my division and the featherweight division are very talented. I try to watch all the up-and-coming guys, but the two guys I most like to watch are Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero and I’ve been watching Rocky Juarez fight ever since he was in the Olympic trials.”
And still, he sweats it out at Manchester PAL, the same guy he was – though nobody asks him to take the trash out anymore.
“Manchester is not the place it used to be,” he said. “Downtown is not the best place to hang out. You know, my former friend who’s paralyzed, I still see him around town but we don’t speak anymore.
“I don’t know if it’s jealousy for what my life has become or hatred. With the neighborhood thing, once you turn your back on that life, you’re an enemy. Boxing changed my life. Boxing is a part of me. And it is in my blood.”
Champ or chump? Time will tell. But Kallen, Roach and Scully rarely waste time with chumps.
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