Matt “Sharp Shooter” Remillard was a highly accomplished amateur boxer whose professional career was off to a great start. He was an undefeated twenty-four year old that held two featherweight titles: the NABF and the NABO. Remillard was ranked third by the WBA, fourth by the WBO, and was quickly closing in on a world title. His promising boxing career; however, came a sudden halt on January 5, 2010, when he was charged with fracturing Jordan Evan’s skull with an aluminum baseball bat during an altercation.
“This is a difficult matter for me to talk about because every time I do, my past is brought up; however, I feel I need to discuss this incident because the media has portrayed me in an extremely unfair and one-sided manner, in which I am a complete monster. The media, moreover, has reported a substantial amount of inaccuracies regarding this story,” said Remillard. “The media consistently stated that I hit Evans with a baseball bat, which is absolutely false. I punched him, but I never hit him with a baseball bat. The doctor that treated Evans stated that his injury could have been from a steel toe boot, not a baseball bat. The staples that were used in Evan’s head were put in place a week prior from his hairline surgery which brought his hair from the back to the front of his head. Furthermore, I was not the only one involved in this incident. There were two other individuals that also hit and kicked Evans, yet I was the only one that was charged with the crime because the police dropped their charges since they testify against me. Stupidly, I admitted to the police that I used the bat on his car, which put the bat in my hands and because of that statement, it cost me five years of my life, when I was forced to admit to a crime that I did not commit. It is in the past and nothing will change. I did the time and it is over.”
Remillard plead no contest to first-degree assault, in exchange for a five-year prison sentence in 2011, in order to avoid going to trial and potentially receiving the mandatory twenty-year sentence. He settled a civil suit with Evans, in which he gave him all the money that he had earned as a professional fighter. Remillard was released from jail in November 2016, after he had served his complete sentence.
“I am truly sorry for what happened that night,” said the orthodox boxer from Hartford, Connecticut. “I should have walked away from the scene, instead I let my ego get the best of me. This is something that I will have to live with for the rest of my life and I truly regret my actions. I promise to never let this happen again.”
Remillard (23-1, 13 KOs) who is now thirty years old and has been out of the ring for the last six years, will attempt to revive his once promising boxing career as he fights in an eight-round co-feature against the tough, hard throwing Augustine “Ruthless” Mauras (6-1-3, 3 KOs) on Saturday, April 1st, at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts.
“Mauras is a good pressure fighter who is not afraid to trade punches with his opponents, so he will be a good first opponent for me as I come off my long layoff,” said Remillard. “My experience and boxing skills are vastly superior to his and they will help me prevail in this bout and hopefully, I can be the first fighter to stop him.”
The two-time Everlast under-19 National Amateur Champion with 115 victories knows that he needs to put on a dominating performance against Mauras in order to demonstrate to the boxing world that only he is back, but despite the layoff, he can still be a force to reckon with. This is why for the past several months since he has been released from prison, he has been fully focused on making up for lost time, as he attempts to get back into peak fighting shape and shake off the years of ring rust and timing at the Ring of Champion’s Society gym in Manchester, Connecticut with gym owner and manager/trainer Paul Cichon.
“On my first day of freedom, I sparred twelve rounds with five different sparring partners, just to see if I still had it, which I do,” said Remillard. “It feels amazing to be back in the gym training every day. All I have known my entire life since I was thirteen years old is boxing and while I was in jail that is all I thought about.”
After the fighting altercation with Evans, Remillard won three additional bouts before he took on undefeated and future world champion Mikey Garcia on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark”. It was a competitive bout for the first four rounds, after which Garcia took over. He knocked down Remillard twice in the ninth round and once in the tenth. Remillard’s corner stopped the fight before the eleventh round began because he had a badly injured left ear that was partially detached.
“I never should have gone through with that Garcia fight. I pulled out of that bout on four or five different occasions before I decided to go through with it,” said Remillard. “I take nothing away from Garcia, but that was not the real me in the ring that night. I had a lot on my mind going into that fight because I was going to be sent off to prison shortly thereafter and I only had a week and half of training for this bout with a trainer that I had never worked with before. Actually, I was surprised that the fight lasted as long as it did, considering everything that was going on with my life at that time. Hopefully, before my career ends, I can get a rematch with Garcia and avenge my only defeat.”
In order for Remillard to obtain a rematch with Garcia and get an opportunity to fight for a world title, he will have to continue to win bouts and look good doing it, to move up the divisional rankings. With his unrelenting work ethic, big heart, and tireless dedication to the sport of boxing, Remillard will undoubtedly be back in a significant fight in the not too distant future.
“I will box in the lightweight division (135-pounds) for this upcoming fight, which is two weight classes higher than when I last fought. Depending on how I feel and how easily I can lose weight, will determine whether I will continue to box at this weight class or whether I will move up or down a division,” said Remillard. “I want to fight at least six to seven times in the next year and half and hopefully obtain some televised exposure later this year. If all goes well, I should be in a position to challenge for a world title by the end of 2018.”
In addition to getting his boxing career back on track, Remillard is giving back to his community, as he volunteers his time, five days a week for the nonprofit organization Manchester Ring of Champion’s Society. He mentors young male and female boxers between the ages of eight and twenty-one about the dangers of life that they might face such as drugs, gangs, violence, and the like, and how to avoid them.
“I cannot wait until April 1st to start my boxing career again and pick up where I left off at the end of 2009,” said Remillard. “I want to thank my strong support group which includes my family, friends, and boxing team, who have been there and have never given up on me throughout this entire difficult ordeal. I am extremely lucky to have all of them in my life.”