“I never said 'I can't anymore' or 'I don't want to anymore'. When I enter the ring, I'm in a trance”

• “Pure passion” is a series in which GSP.ro aims to bring to the fore the exceptional cases in juvenile sports, including the less publicized disciplines.

25th May 1965. Muhammad Ali vs Sonny Liston. First Minute. First Round. Respect Work. Love Pain. Become a Legend. On an entire wall, the epochal image of the converted Cassius Clay after the “ghost punch” inflicted on his opponent in the match for the supremacy of the heavyweight division, which ended with a quick knockout. Historical!

In front, a ring. All around, training bags, the uppercut machine, suspended “para”, gloves of all colors, bracelets, motivational messages, a pictorial Mayweather standing guard, ready to strike.

Şerban Stoica and the hope for a champion: “It's a blessing for any coach”

And, among them, a 16-year-old boy, with his dreams, with the passion, enthusiasm and work of the teenager who, gathering beads of sweat, sometimes closes his eyes to transpose himself, triumphantly, on the podium. With a gold around his neck, with a massive belt around his waist!

This is what the small gym in Suceava looks like, where Şerban Stoica, together with his trainer, Andu Vornicu, took root in the art of boxing. And he began to collect results: national champion, Balkan champion, 5th place at the last European U17 in the 52 kg category, but after a quarter-final lost due to a controversial, debatable refereeing decision. That's how it is in boxing!

About two months ago, Şerban left the old Cetate de Saun of Stephen the Great to join the national team in the training centers in Călărași and Giurgiu. And his route is open with all doors to great performance.

“The adage that says that work beats talent fits perfectly with him. He has a fantastic readiness for effort, he quickly absorbs instructions, he is disciplined, he perfectly understood my advice on rest and nutrition. I think he hasn't put his mouth on sweets for about four years. If he keeps his seriousness and mentality, he will also cross the critical barrier of 17-18 years, when the collateral temptations gather, which can divert you from the path”, he emphasizes his coach from CSM Suceava, Andu Vornicu.

This kid is a blessing to any serious trainer. He works enormously, he is attentive and he wants with all his fiber to perform in boxing. His main weapon is the right hook, a lot of work needs to be done on directs with both arms and footwork
Andu Vornicucoach CSM Suceava

“I was hooked on Mayweather's fights. And who wasn't watching Tyson?”

Posing with Şerban Stoica in the boxing gym in Suceava: a symbolic shot in the jaw of the idol Floyd Mayweather. Photo: Justin Gafiuc (GSP)

“Dad also did boxing, so this passion came naturally. I watched a lot of matches on YouTube and one day I came to the gym with my cousin. I liked it from the beginning, and the master saw something in me. That's how I got into this sport. My mother was scared at first when I came with a bruised eye or a scratch, and so did I, but we quickly got used to these sacrifices,” he says Servant.

He began his adventure in the ring at the age of 11: “I was watching Mayweather. I was captivated by his style and intelligence during the matches. Same – Tyson! Who didn't watch Tyson's matches? That fierce attitude of his was fantastic.”

He admits that he had doubts that boxing was the right sport for him, rather a frail boy than built to be a force of nature. “However, I realized that strength does not necessarily come from the muscles, but from the heart! This is a sport to which you must dedicate your whole soul. To be hardworking, ambitious and disciplined, that is the three words in which I find myself”, comes the self-portrait of the Suceava.

Şerban Stoica together with Andu Vornicu, the trainer who has guided his boxing career so far. Photo: https://www.facebook.com/andu.vornicu/

“My dream? An Olympic medal in Brisbane 2032”

She won her first gold medal at the Cadet Nationals, in Piatra Neamț: “I can't describe the emotion I experienced when the referee raised my hand as the winner in the final. I realized then that I had fulfilled the first dream of my career.”

The big goal is, of course, an Olympic podium: “The 2032 Games are part of my plan. And the first thing I'll check off if I get a medal at the Olympics will be to go on an exotic holiday with my family. I like geography a lot, I find it very interesting to have the opportunity to travel all over the world.”

But it's a long and thorny road to the ultimate amateur goal: “I'm taking it step by step, I'm not in a hurry. For now, I'll have a full 2026, with the Youth Olympics, the World Cup and the European at the same level. It will be my year!”.

The first gold medal in boxing for Şerban Stoica: he became national cadet champion in 2023, in Piatra Neamț. Photo: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=362488689553145&set=pob.100073760514881

The first rule of training is to be intense. When I have two training sessions a day, the first one is based on the physical part, and the other – on technique, strength and explosion. I have never shied away from work. I didn't say “I can no longer” or “I don't want to anymore”. And during matches, when I enter the ring, I'm in a trance. I only have the opponent and the coach's corner in my head
Şerban Stoica, national junior boxer

Torture from England: “I didn't integrate at all. At night, I was only thinking about Romania”

Şerban's path in life has known, at one point, a cuppa, before he started boxing. The parents had to go to work in England for two years, “worked in a factory”, but the experience destabilized the children.

“I stayed there from 8 to 10 years, with school, everything. But I didn't integrate at all. The big problem was communication, because I didn't know the language at all. People tried to talk to me, but I just stared blankly. It was like a kind of barrier. I couldn't close my eyes at night and I was only thinking about Romania. In the end, my mother and father decided to return to the country because of me,” recounts Șerban.

He says that, after the British experience, he became friends with the English language: “I started learning it seriously, and now I speak it quite well. If I were to go back there, I wouldn't have any more problems in this chapter.”

Şerban Stoica crossed a road with many obstacles between the sad experience with his family in England and the title of Balkan boxing champion in November 2024. Photo: youtube capture

In the country, it's the eighth grade: “I should have been in the tenth, but I started in a different system in England and I left two years behind. But I'm doing well with school, I take care of my lessons, I still get homework from my friends on WhatsApp, I have a grandmotherly average.”

I have a deviated septum, but it has never caused me problems with breathing during training or matches. I know it's a medical detail that can get confusing at some point, so I'll be having surgery soon. I already had an appointment in October, but the national championships were coming up and there was no time to recover
Şerban Stoica, national junior boxer

“Maybe I can get an autograph from Drăgușin or Stanciu”

Radu Drăgușin is one of Șerban Stoica's favorite footballers. Photo: Gulliver/GettyImages

Outside of pugilism, he declares himself a football fan. And Barcelona and FCSB supporter. “I have never been to a match of my favourites, because here, in Suceava, we are far from League 1 matches. But I would really like to go to a match of the national team, in particular, maybe get an autograph from Drăgușin or Stanciu”, is one of Şerban's secret wishes.

He then moves on to a sensitive point in the world of boxing: the arbitrations, with episodes of scandals and controversies in perpetual mode. How do you deal with moments of frustrating decisions?

“Such unfair situations happened to me, including at the last Europeans, when I lost undeservedly to a Ukrainian in the quarter-finals. I suffered the same in other domestic matches. But these moments make me come back twice as strong. It's like a fire is lit in me, so that I won't give the opponent a chance on the next occasion,” Şerban confesses.

“I like the right hook, but it's not good because I hit the goal too much”

Şerban Stoica trains execution speed, rhythm and reflexes in boxing. Photo: Justin Gafiuc (GSP)

Does he still have time to breathe between practices, training camps and school? “I still go out for a walk or play billiards with my older brother, who is 21 years old,” says the young boxer. And on weekends, if he “escapes” from the center of Călărași, he helps his mother at the stall with products from the Suceava bazaar.

Obviously, the first supporters come from the family: “Dad still gets excited at my matches and calls me all the time to advise me, to encourage me. Sure, he's not as good as the master, but he explains to me where he thinks I went wrong or what I did right. The words of those close to me and the coach are the only ones I care about and value. The rest – I try to ignore it, it doesn't affect me”.

And he ends with a self-assessment: “I really like the right hook or the step back and then the return. And the most mistakes I make are empty kicks. I need to learn to control the distance better and fix this problem. But that also depends, of course, on the profile of the opponent.”