Author: BOXEOMUNDIAL
Photo credit: Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro
Date: 4/20/2009

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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.