An Interview with Hugo Micallef, the First Boxer in Monaco’s History 

*Article first published in Times Monaco Winter 23-24 print issue 

Hugo Micallef, aka the fresh prince of Monaco is building his boxing career at 25 years old, making a name for himself while rewriting Monaco’s boxing history. In a candid interview Hugo opens up about life’s punches that instead of leaving him down, raised him to glory.

Can you share a little bit about yourself.

I started an amateur career, that now is now called Olympic boxing at twelve years old. I had 150 fights and 120 victories in Olympic boxing. I’ve been professionally boxing for the past three years and I’ve got nine fights and nine victories. I’m currently striving to become a world champion.

What made you start boxing?

My father was a boxer and I grew up watching his videos and felt inspired by him, but I was not supposed to become a boxer back then. I had long hair, a baby face and was always drawing. One day, my father got involved in a street fight because my grandfather had problems with a group of people. I was seven years old when my father fought in front of me. During the fight, he stepped on a step and fell, knocking himself out and these people started to beat him up on the ground. I thought he was dead because he was not moving as they hit him in the head, and continued punching and kicking him in the face. I got traumatized because of that scene.
That event changed the biology of my brain so I went from a baby face artist from Monaco to someone who wanted to be able to defend his family. I can see the Hugo I was then, and the Hugo I am now, I clearly became a different person. Thankfully, my father survived. I asked my parents to allow me to start boxing and going to the gym. My father didn’t want me to get into boxing because he knew how difficult it was and how dangerous it was. He tried to get me out of it by saying that I was living in Monaco, a place that was secure and that didn’t require me to fight.

But I wanted to be a boxer and one day I was in Valberg, a village in the mountains, and it was a day of sports and a lot of activities were happening. I told my dad that if they had a boxing ring that I wanted to step in and fight. He said that the only available sports would be basketball, volleyball, ping pong, but when we arrived boxing was happening.

Not only boxing, there was a ring, and a coach in the middle of the ring calling the kids to go up and fight. It was destiny. I stepped in the ring against someone who was maybe three years older than me and much taller. We put helmets and gloves on and began fighting.

I had some basis of boxing because I had seen my father fight in videos and he had explained the techniques of boxing a little bit to me. I was eight or nine at that time and my dad told me that what I had done in the ring was incredible for my age because he had never seen a kid be as technical and intelligent in the ring as I was so he took me to the Monaco gym at the stadium. The coach said that they didn’t take kids my age, but only eleven- or twelve-year-old’s. My dad asked the coach to allow me to do one training so I at least could be happy and come back in three years to get started. I did one training and when I was shadow boxing, which is boxing in the air watching yourself in the mirror, the coach watched me and asked my dad where I had been training and fighting. My dad explained that it was my first training ever, so the coach accepted me and here I am.

So, you were the youngest boxer in Monaco at the time?

Yes, I was the youngest boxer in Monaco back then and am today the only professional boxer from Monaco.

You are making history?

Yes, there has never been up to this day a Monegasque boxer representing Monaco in competitions.

Why are you called the Fresh Prince of Monaco?

Since I started boxing, I was imagining that I wanted to become a professional boxer and world champion. All the boxers have a nickname, and I was asking myself what nickname I could have.

I never found that nickname, so when I signed pro, my marketing team told me that I had to have a nickname and they suggested the Fresh Prince of Monaco. The name is a good mix of America and Monaco. There is a tv show in America called the fresh prince of Bel-Air and they suggested my nickname to be the fresh prince of Monaco. I accepted the nickname; it was their idea.

How would you describe your boxing style?

My boxing style is very technical and I make my fights as clean as possible. When people see me fighting, they often tell me that it is pretty to watch. I make it enjoyable, I am artistic in my movements, as if it was a dance, but I am also deadly.
What boxers do you admire or get inspired by?

When I was a kid I watched a lot of videos of Floyd Mayweather, he was from my generation and I got a lot of inspiration from him. Right now, I’m focused on my own career and watching my fights over and over to improve my game. I’m not watching other boxers and what they are doing.

How was your fight in Las Vegas? Are you happy with the result?

My fight in Las Vegas was amazing. The whole camp, which is our training preparation was phenomenal. We did eight or nine weeks of camp in Canary Island where I live. We did two weeks of camp in Las Vegas and it was really cool. I was there with my strength and conditioning coach and my boxing coach. I was sweating down a lot to bring my weight down, but it was really cool because of the atmosphere of Las Vegas, where all the boxers dream to be. When the fight night arrived, I had a very good fight. I still made a few errors; I always have something to improve, at least that’s how I see my work. I am very happy with my overall performance. The referee stopped the fight in the end of the fourth round because my opponent was too beat up. It was a good performance for my US debut.

What was challenging for you in the Las Vegas fight?

The most challenging part for me was to not get too hyped up during the fight. I fell in that trap because I was super excited to be finally fighting in Las Vegas.

As a boxer you have to keep your composure and stay cold blooded without emotions, but because I wanted to perform for the Las Vegas crowd, I overdid and exposed myself to some unnecessary punches. I should have stayed calmer.

What are your short- and long-term goals as a professional boxer?

For short term goals; I want to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics and represent Monaco. The qualification is in March I think and I want to qualify, compete and come back with a medal for Monaco. As far as long term, which is not so long when I think about it, is to become a world champion.

I also want to raise a boxing community of young kids in Monaco. I want them to look at me as the first face of boxing in Monaco and feel inspired. I want kids to pick up boxing because it is not a popular sport here. My coach in Monaco is the kid’s coach, but we don’t have boxing competitions in Monaco and Olympic boxing yet. I want kids to know boxing is possible. I think people never thought of boxing coming from Monaco.

Do you have any upcoming fights?

I have a fight in the end of January or February of 2024.

Tell us about what Monaco represents for you.

I lived in Monaco during my childhood. I come back to Monaco after each fight for a week or two to see my parents, friends, and to rest a little bit, but I’m not here full time. Three years ago, I moved to work in Canary Island because of the infrastructure there. My coach lives there as well and I have the opportunity to train with other boxers.
Do you have a favorite place in Monaco?

Every time I come back to Monaco, my girlfriend and I go to Nonna Maria, which is a pizza place in Monte Carlo. They have a pizza named after me that I created the recipe for. It’s a margherita pizza with parma ham on it and I made the very first Hugo Micallef pizza at Nonna Maria. It’s a simple pizza, but it’s what I like.

Is pizza your favorite food?

Pizzas, pastas and all Italian foods.

Do you have hobbies?

Outside of boxing I play video games; Call of duty mostly. Where I live, I’m not trying to make friends, I want to stay focused. I stay home, eat, train, sleep and do that again the following day. Between trainings I hang out with my girlfriend, but have to find an occupation when I’m alone so I love listening to music. I listen to Urban culture, hip hop, soul, jazz, and funk. My favorite album right now is Panic by Tobi. I draw mostly when I feel inspired. I put some music on and I draw for a couple of hours. I draw portraits of both women and men. Some people say my drawings are dark because I create a dark and cloudy ambience in my drawings. That is my artistic style.