“I bring boxing back to the Olympics and marry Carlotta in church”- Corriere.it

You can punch an opponent in the ring from 1.91m to 200lbs of muscle to knock him out, but you can also be incredibly romantic. After destroying Irishman Jack Marley in the final of the European Games at Nowy Targ Arena, Poland, Abbes Mouhiidine, spearhead of the blue boxing team, placed his big face in front of the camera asking his girlfriend Carlotta Paoletti live (boxeuse international level too) to marry him.

How long did it take for the answer to arrive, Abbes?

“Less than a minute. Back at the corner my uncle Gennaro, who is also my technician, gave me Carlotta on the phone».

“She said yes! And she also made it official on her Instagram profile ».

Tell the truth, everything was prepared.

“Absolutely not. In the semifinal I had won the pass for my first Olympics dedicating it to my mother. When the referee awarded me the victory in the final, I immediately thought of Carlotta: without her I would never have made it and her yes moved me as much as the victory. We boxers seem invincible, but we go through moments of great fragility and Carlotta and I are made to support each other”.

You are the son of a Moroccan citizen who came to Italy on a scholarship and of a girl from Salerno.

«I represent thousands of profoundly Italian young people who unite two cultures, two religions, two ways of life in one person. There is still someone who is strange by a different skin color or by a surname like mine, which is difficult to pronounce. But they are people who live in the past: for the new generations, where you were born or who your parents are makes no difference”.

Why did you choose boxing?

«For Muhammad Ali, legendary boxer who sacrificed himself outside the ring for the rights of others, of minorities, of the weakest. I started seeing films about him when I was eight and I immediately knew that I was going to be a boxer».

At 24 you have already won three European heavyweight golds. But after the defeat at the World Cup in Uzbekistan against the Russian Gadzhimagomedov there was talk of a refereeing scandal.

“It was. It took me months to come to terms with it, but that verdict gave me the strength to train hard. At this point it’s useless to hide: I want the gold in Paris and I hope to find correct referees».

Boxing has been in trouble for years. The International Federation was kicked out of the IOC precisely because of serious arbitration and financial scandals, you took part in the World Cup against the Russians and Belarusians and in the European Championships against the Ukrainians. How do you live this situation?

«With pain and confusion: we are the sport where, perhaps most of all, the opponent can never be an enemy. I was very struck by the fact that the Ukrainian boys we met, the few who weren’t at the front or unfortunately died, bore the scars and profound discomfort of war. While for the Russians it was as if nothing had happened: they got into the ring and only thought about beating. I may be banal, but I dream of a world in peace».

There was no blue in the ring at the Tokyo Games, but in Paris there will be at least two of you.

“That was a terrible disappointment for us boxers, but the lesson served: we started from scratch, with great humility and months of very hard work in the federal center of Assisi”.

Her father was Muslim, she is Catholic.

«My father prayed five times a day, I studied the Islamic religion in depth, but I decided to embrace Catholicism: we will marry Carlotta in church. Knowing Islam well means overcoming many mistrusts and distinguishing the violent few from the majority of decent people. I often fight with colleagues who practice Ramadan, I respect their choices of faith, which are difficult for an athlete, and I consider them my brothers”.

“I’m terribly narcissistic,” he said in an interview.

“We boxers are all like that: there’s no escape, when you get into a ring you have to think you’re at the center of the world and the strongest in that world”.

“And I’m proud of it. Wearing a uniform was my second dream as a child, I’ve made it come true».