Author: BOXEOMUNDIAL
Photo credit: Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro
Date: 4/20/2009
British Super Bantamweight Marianne ‘Golden Girl’ Marston,
who was refused a visa in order to compete on the under card of Brian Cohen’s
WBC Americas Light Heavyweight title fight on the 9th May at South Philadelphia
High School, has learned that her plight has not gone unnoticed in the City that
has been her adopted home for the best part of two years. Journalist and boxing
columnist Kerry O’Connor, who writes for Philadelphia newspaper Center City Weekly Press and Examiner.com, heard of
Marianne’s plight and decided that something pro-active should be done to
correct the matter. His solution was to start a campaign of support by
encouraging readers of his column to write directly to the American Embassy In
London to lobby them to reconsider Marianne’s visa application. O’Connor wrote
in his Philadelphia Boxing column on Examiner.com on the 17th
April.
“Earlier in the week, boxing fans said
goodbye to the Golden Boy. Today, I'm reporting that we're being denied the
chance to say hello to the Golden Girl. Marianne "Golden Girl" Marston, a Super
Bantamweight boxer from London, England, was supposed to make her professional debut
May 9th here at South Philadelphia High
School. However, after two years of playing by the
rules, and filing proper paperwork with the American Embassy so she could come
back and forth between Philly and London to train, the Embassy has denied her visa
application”. O’Connor then provides his readers with further information
regarding Marianne and her plight before suggesting to his readers, “If you'd
like to see Marianne get her visa, let the US Embassy know! Send an e.mail
titled: "Let Marianne box" to Special Consular Services at SCSLondon@state.gov
“. The Wednesday 22nd April issue of the Weekly Press will feature a more
in-depth article by O’Connor, including an interview with Steve ‘USS’Cunningham,
to generate as much interest as possible in the campaign.
So
what has made O’Connor leap to support Marianne and campaign on her behalf? "I found the circumstances surrounding
Marianne's denial of a visa to be very unfair," said O'Connor. "She's always
abided by the rules regarding her travels between the
UK and the States in the past, so to say she
might not return to London after the fight is ridiculous. She is just as
deserving of a chance to box in the States as Ricky Hatton. Let her have her
dream. Let her fight”. On learning of Kerry O’Connor campaigning on her behalf a
very grateful Marianne said, “When I got a call telling me of the support coming
from Kerry through his column I was blown away, I was speechless, what a truly
wonderful thing to do. In some ways I’m not surprised though as everyone there
is so nice.
Philadelphia is a very special place filled with such
wonderful people. When I made the
decision to train full time in America I had two choices, Philly or
Los
Angeles.
What swung me to choose Philly was the people, they made me feel at home from
the very first day I visited there. I know I was right to do so as they care
about others. Kerry proves that, we’ve never met or spoken yet he has done this
for me. Wow, that is something else. I can’t thank Kerry enough as I love Philly
and can’t wait to get back...and fight”. If, like Kerry O’Connor, you would like
to help Marianne fulfill her dream to professionally fight in
America please send an e.mail titled: "LetMarianne
box" to Special Consular Services at SCSLondon@state.gov asking them to
reconsider Marianne Marston’s visa application. www.mariannemarston.com For tickets
and further details for the ‘Brawl on Broad
Street’
event on 9th May 2009 at South Philadelphia High
School
please contact:
Donna
Cohen
ABBCorp, Inc. & Bionic Bull
Enterprise
Tel: 215 755 8155
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. Marianne, who has a twelve fight contract
with Donna Cohen’s ABBCorp, Inc./Bionic Bull Enterprise, was due to debut on the
under card of the Telefutura televised WBC America’s Light Heavyweight Title
fight featuring Brian Cohen on 9th May 2009 at South Philadelphia.
Marianne, who flew back to
London in February, was aware that she had needed to
have a visa before she could compete applied firstly in March 2009 and again in
April 2009. Both times her application for a B1 visa, the type of visa the
London Consulate had advised her to apply for, was refused on the basis of
insufficient socioeconomic ties with the
United
Kingdom.
The basis for this being Marianne only has two living relatives, even
though both are UK resident, that she does not own or lease a
property in the UK or that she does not have
UK employment to return
to.
(14) Votes 
Uruguay
Venezuela