(APR 15) Lucia Larcinese is a 37 year
old first generation Canadian; her parents were born in Italy. She
is currently an LPN (Licensed Practitioner Nurse), can fluently
speak three languages and trains virtually every day for boxing. It
has been very tough for Larcinese to juggle both work and boxing but
she feels the sacrifices are definitely worth it. Lucia first got
into combat sports as a kickboxer because her friend’s brother was a
world kickboxing champion. She then switched to muay thai but
progressed into boxing because she heard it was an Olympic sport.
The problem however was that women were not allowed to compete in
boxing at the Olympics at the time.
Larcinese got her start under the
guidance of Quebec boxing legend Abe Pervin. Pervin has been
involved in boxing for over 50 years and was just inducted into
the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame. Lucia considers Pervin a dear
friend, mentor and confidant who has always been there for her.
When Larcinese progressed into the professional ranks and she
changed her trainer to Otis Grant. Grant is a former WBC World
Champion who opened the Grant Brothers Boxing Gym with his
brother Howard in the West Island, a much closer training
destination for Larcinese.
Lucia’s dream is to get many more opportunities to box in
Montreal especially on Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) cards. Lucia
respects GYM because of their impeccable reputation, good P.R.
and their care in building up talented boxers, for example David
Lemieux. In addition, Lucia’s dear friend Abe Pervin has
continually told her what a reputable person Yvon Michel is.
Larcinese stated how much she wanted to thank GYM for having her
on last Decembers card, her first fight in Montreal, and how
disappointed she is that her opponent wanted to clinch and hold
more then fight.
Larcinese has had ten
professional fights with 80% of them being on the road spanning
from Nevada, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario. Only
two of her ten bouts have been in her hometown of Montreal which
is extremely difficult on a boxer. In addition, Lucia has had to
fight with a different trainer in her corner in 9 of her 10
bouts because Grant has been unable to travel with her due to
his personal foundation projects, family commitments and charity
work. Larcinese is still very happy with Grant and has put her
faith in him believing he can make the difference in her career.
However, all of these negative factors have definitely played a
significant role in the success of her career. One of the
highlights of Larcinese’s career thus far was getting the
opportunity to fight in Las Vegas on an ESPN2 Friday Night
Fights undercard in August 2009 where she convincingly defeated
her 19 year old opponent right in her own hometown. Then in
November, Larcinese was on the road again to Hamilton, ON where
she defeated rising prospect Kara McLeod by majority decision.
Less then a month later Larcinese defeated Karen Dulin at Casino
Montreal.
Lucia is a self professed Italian style brawler much like Gatti
and she has a hard punch and an excellent chin. Lucia admits
that she is slow starter but gets stronger as the fight
progresses however she feels that the structure and rules of
women’s boxing does not fit her style well at all and has been
very detrimental to her success. Many women’s boxing matches are
scheduled for only 4 or 6 rounds to generally cut costs and many
women’s boxing matches have a very similar style to that of
novice amateur boxing and are judged accordingly. Having only 2
minute rounds instead of 3 minutes like the men force women to
move forward throwing many punches each round knowing that
looking busy is the best way to earn a judges decision and
although this might look very crowd pleasing many of those
punches lack power and are ineffective. Larcinese agrees with
Layla McCarter, one of the best female fighters in the world
that women should have to fight 3 minute rounds and 12 rounds in
total just like the men to separate the high volume amateur
style punchers from the more professional, calculating and
effective punchers who prefer to drag an opponent into the deep
waters of the later and longer rounds to drown them.
Larcinese admitted a big mistake she has made in her career was
that she was far too eager to take any fight, anywhere at 4
rounds because she is a true fighter who loves a challenge and
ducks nobody. However, her eagerness has gone against her
because she admits that she is not a 4 or 6 round fighter.
Instead, Larcinese feels that she can easily last 8 or 10 rounds
and just wants the opportunity to prove it. Larcinese believes
the factors highlighted above have cost her victories in her
last two fights.
In February, Larcinese dropped a six round decision to Amanda
Serrano in New York State. Most in the crowd disagreed and booed
the decision. Larcinese admits she started slow and gave her way
too much respect in the first two rounds however she felt she
won the rest of the rounds and saw Serrano weakening only to be
saved by the 2 minute rounds and also that Serrano was virtually
out on her feet at the end of the sixth round. Larcinese feels
that if it had been six, 3 minute rounds the fight would have
ended in a much different fashion.
The same can be said in her match in March against short notice
opponent Jackie Trivilino in which she lost a disputed four
round decision in Montreal. Virtually everybody in the crowed
booed the decision feeling it was unjust. Abe Pervin felt it was
one of the worst decisions he had seen in awhile. Larcinese
feels that Trivilino got the decision because she threw many
punches that looked flashy for the judges however they had no
power or effect on them at all. On the other hand Larcinese
counterpunched and boxed landing the much harder, effective
punches even with an injured rotator cuff. At the end of the
fight both of Trivilino’s eyes were badly swollen, her face
visibly bruised and her nose was gushing blood. On the other
hand Larcinese barely had a scratch on her other then a small
cut over her eye from an unintentional head butt.
Larcinese stated that she will no longer make the mistake of
taking 4 round fights but is still open to the possibility of
taking 6 round fights. However, Lucia is worried that no women
will want to fight her in 8 or 10 round fights because of the
risk.
Lucia really wants the opportunity to get more fights in her
hometown of Montreal so that she can box in front of friends and
family. In addition, she would like to have the opportunity to
fight for and win a world title and would put her nursing career
on hold if need be. Larcinese is trying to open door for women
boxers in Quebec and would really like to have a full team
behind her so that she does not have to do everything herself.
Also, Lucia proudly represents her Italian-Canadian heritage
every time she steps into the ring and she would like to see the
Italian community in Montreal come out and support her in her
future matches.