Coach Yves Bèye (Boxer): the “hand” of Ama Baldé exiled to the USA

Some athletes have left their mark on the arena with their exploits before reinventing themselves or retraining after their sporting career. The section “What happened to them?” » tells of their post-career life. Today, spotlight on Ibrahima Bèye, aka Yves Bèye, former boxing coach of Ama Baldé, emigrated to the USA since 2023.

Ibrahima Bèye, aka coach Yves, was born in Pikine, in the Tableau Gazelle district, where he also grew up. It was there that he grew up and learned the first lessons of life. But, he will say: “I have not practiced any sport other than boxing, apart from a little bit of football”. His beginnings in boxing, his teenage passion, were never easy.

“My father always told me that you can’t play a sport without also doing a job. So, I was a tailor.” He then leads his young life torn between sewing machines and gloves. “Since I was 15, I have been in boxing centers. I did the Niayes de Pikine, the Cdeps de Guédiawaye, with coach Diouf de Pikine Savanel, who was my coach for ten years,” he recalls.

Yves competes in the Senegal boxing championship and joins the national boxing team. “It was because of a hand injury that I stopped practicing professional boxing to become a trainer,” he says. “That is to say, I prepared all the Pikine fighters, wrestlers, in case of need, for symbolic remuneration,” he says.

From boxing to the arena

It was the Falaye Baldé team that ended up recruiting him permanently. How did he become the boxing coach there? “It’s through one of my elders named Mbaye Tall, who is a carpenter and a friend of Jules Baldé,” he reveals. “At the start, he came twice a week to supervise the members of the stable. When he came there, Ama Baldé did not yet have a wrestling license,” he explains, a way of letting it be known that he had been on the staff for a long time. “So it was me who taught him the basics of boxing. Then, I supervised him from his first fight against Oussou Ndiaye until his lost royal fight against Modou Lô in 2023. It was after that that I came to the United States,” he says, very proud.

For Ama Baldé, it wasn’t just her boxing coach. He was present at every stage of his preparation. “We got up every day at 4 a.m., in the company of his eldest Jules Baldé, to go sharpen ourselves in the dunes. In the afternoon, we went to the contact room for boxing and technical workshops. Sometimes, we accompanied him to the weight room where we could also do boxing sessions,” he says.

Also read: Moustapha Guèye: the new life of the Tiger of Fass

They form a bloc where everyone believes in the seriousness of their work. He believes that “Ama Baldé is a good product, a beast of work. We covered him well.” He is pleased to have always been in a beautiful environment with his stable, where he “experienced very good working relationships with Ama Baldé” who is his “younger brother”, his “champion”, and who never received his fee without giving him his “share”.

Yves Bèye continues: “I have never experienced this with Ama Baldé. He is very generous to me. Even if we’re not planning a fight, every time he sees me, what comes to his mind is giving me money.” Monsieur Bèye was a professional boxer, but he had nothing in this sport. He therefore does not complain about having frequented wrestling because he recognizes “having had a very grateful wrestler”.

Better, he makes tasty revelations: “I accompanied Ama Baldé from her first salary of 90,000 FCFA to 90 million FCFA”. Apart from the financial support he provides, Falaye Baldé’s heir has always been proud to present him to his loved ones or to others. He never refused to follow his instructions or his work schedule.

A respect that few VIPs have for their coaches, who often come from the lower classes. Ibrahima Bèye spent moments of all kinds with the man who will be nicknamed “ Seuleu bou Ndaw “. He tells an anecdote: “When Ama Baldé took on Malick Niang in June 2014, many Pikinese people did not seem to be sure of his boxing abilities. I, who had mentored him in boxing for several years, feared nothing. Before the confrontation, the traditional communicator Khadim Samb had invited me to a broadcast on Rts. I told him that if Malick Niang ventured to fight with Ama Baldé, the latter was going to shoot him.”

Fights and memories

He resumes his tirade: “I had affirmed, on the same TV set, that Yoff’s member could not beat him in pure wrestling or in brawls.” Nobody could believe it. Malick Niang was undefeated. He had the wind in his sails. He had just slowed down Sa Thiès, the other heir of Double Less, by inflicting his very first career defeat. He knew his foal.

“Before the fight at the Demba Diop stadium, the first time I spoke with Ama Baldé, he just told me: God is great.” But, afterwards, the boxer had a one-on-one with him regarding the strategy to implement against Malick Niang. “He was more than motivated after my speech. He went around the arena to reassure his audience,” reveals the professional boxer.

Yves experienced another fearful situation with his wrestler. It was during the preparation for his fight against Papa Sow in February 2018. Falaye Baldé’s son had fallen ill two weeks before the final assault. “He was vomiting. Among those around him, it was believed that he was mystically affected. He had confided to me, even sworn, one day on the way to training, that he would beat Papa Sow even if he was weakened by any illness. He told me he was convinced he was the best.

Which reassured me,” confides the former boxer. Ama Baldé kept her promise on the day of their clash, even if her illness worried coach Yves because he “didn’t know what it was about”. He had actually fallen ill two weeks before the date. His staff had almost stopped training with him. Despite everything, he swore he was the strongest and that it was enough for him to grab hold of him to defeat him. He had finally assured. It was a great feat.

A day of bitterness, Yves also experienced it with his protégé. It was when he thought he was at the end of the tunnel, on the cusp of the crowning moment of a rich and quite long career. “It was only once that I was unpleasantly surprised by Ama Baldé. He told me that he was going to submit a medical certificate because he had contracted an injury and that he could not face Modou Lô in these conditions,” he explains.

American exile

That day, the boxing professional did not sleep all night. His wrestler was in great style and overflowing with confidence at this turning point in his career. Yves Bèye, for his part, was convinced that he had prepared very well and that he already had very solid arguments to dethrone Modou Lô, then King of the Arena. After these exchanges, he was literally paralyzed. He loses hope.

It was Modou Lô who was the first to submit a medical certificate, causing the poster to be postponed, even though the Pikinois was in very good shape after very good preparation. But when the “Roc” was restored, Ama Baldé also had a severe tear and was clinically unfit. “It’s the worst situation I experienced alongside him during the entire time we were together,” he admits. Yves Bèye left Senegal for the United States on Friday December 15, 2023.

It was the first time he left the country. He had never wanted to travel. He ends up in the USA with his little sister, a basketball player, who lives with her husband. “I arrived during a period of winter. I suffered a little from the climate,” he laughs. After four months, he was able to find a job. “In just 1 year and 9 months, I was able to achieve a lot in Senegal. Things that I could perhaps never achieve if I was in the country,” he says happily.

The only problem is that it’s difficult to be away from your family, your wife and your children. Yves learned many things about life in Senegal. It was in the country of Teranga that he learned good values: work, dignity and seriousness. These are the values ​​that currently guide its actions in the United States.

By Abdoulaye DEMBÉLÉ