National super heavyweight boxer Nigel Paul was among six gold medal winners for T&T at the Caribbean Boxing Championships, which was held in Guyana from November 25 – 29.
Team T&T, which included 20 athletes, also won eight silver medals and four bronze medals to end the Championships with a tally of 18 medals. Paul, Aaron Hassette and Justin Parris all received special awards for T&T following their top gold medal performances.
Paul scored two first round knockouts over boxers from Bahamas and Guyana. He was drafted into Team-Mexico Guerroros to participate in AIBA’s WSB. The WSB is AIBA’s professional boxing league and begins in January 2016.
Hassette (69kg) was voted as the best senior boxer and the best boxer overall. After an absence of seven years, Hassette was able to show that he has not lost any of his skills, but instead showed he has matured and gotten better.
Parris (57 kgs) was rated as the best junior boxer of the tournament, scoring two first round spectacular knockouts. The T&T Boxing Association describes Parris as a natural talent and has what every fighter dreams of having, a knockout punch, which he executes with either hand.
Jean Paul Cooper, Christian McDonald and Stephanie Allen were the other gold medal winners for T&T. T&T was also represented by six coaches, four referee/judges and two managers.
Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Barbados, Bahamas, Cayenne (Guyana), Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, St. Lucia and St. Maarteen also competed in the tournament.
After an eight-year absence, the tournament was a great success and it was decided that Barbados would host the next tournament from December 7 – 13 next year.
Paul, Aaron Prince and Anthony Joseph also represented T&T recently in the Pre-Olympic Test Event in Rio De Janeiro along with two coaches.