Alexander aspires for boxing greatness

Alexander, one of a small group of TT amateurs striving to qualify for the Olympic Games in August, says he developed his talent for fighting right in his home.

“I have eight brothers and one sister and all of us used to just fight,” he explained. “A friend of mine from since primary school, since I was 8 or 9 years old, he introduced me to his uncle and he saw me fighting with a boy in school and said, “Why you don’t take that anger you have in you and use it as a skill? “He asked me if I wanted to learn how to box and I said yes. I didn’t like nothing better, because I love fighting. And from there on, to this year 2016, it’s 12 years now I boxing, and I never stopped.” Alexander blossomed under formal training into a quite capable lightweight. In his first major international assignment, he earned a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in Glasgow 2014; the following year, he won another bronze at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games.

Those experiences have increased his appetite for success.

Pursuing his Olympic dream, the 22-year-old southpaw trains as many as six days per week with his peers under coaches Reynold Cox, Floyd Trumpet and Willie Williams. Their routine involves weight and cardio training at the Ultimate Gym in Chaguanas on mornings and technical and boxing work at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on afternoons; on other occasions they train on the Lady Chancellor Hill. Admittedly a tough grind, it is one that the sixth child of ten in a Richplain, Diego Martin family is taking in stride.

“It’s a struggle; it’s always a struggle when you want to reach somewhere in life, when you have a goal in life, you have to go through sacrifices,” he said. “The finances, it wasn’t there at first, for a very, very long, long time; but I ban my belly and I getting it now, so I could push myself to the next level.” Efforts have been made to help.

The recent “Tuesday Boxing at the Castle” series at Brian Lara’s residence presented Michael and his fellow amateurs a genuine test to their state of readiness.

Following an exhibition bout with Aaron Prince on opening night, Alexander fought Guyana’s Joel Williamson in the second week. After a cautious opening round, he took control sufficiently to win on the cards of all three judges. In the final week, he won by split decision over Yeuri Andujar of the Dominican Republic.

Some of the lesser-informed spectators expressed disappointment at the results; having heard of his exploits abroad, they had been expecting “Salty” to simply knock out his opponents.

Alexander brushed off the negativity.

“When you’re in the ring, it’s you and you alone,” was his response. “All boxers have a different style of boxing. My style is counter-fighting, so I don’t stay to get hit, so I’m very fast on my feet. There are some who are just sluggers.” He remains confident of his chances of qualifying for the Games in Rio.

“Most of the top boxers who I fought out there (in Glasgow and at CAC), they have already qualified, and I am ranked third in the region, and I lost to boxers who already qualified. So basically, I have a high chance of qualifying.” Having stood toe-to-toe with fighters from countries outside the region, Michael also believes that TT boxers can hold their own in international competition, if they can improve in one facet of the sport in particular.

“We have talent, yes, we have skill, we have movements, everything,” he told Newsday. “But the thing that we lack mostly is conditioning; that’s the only problem Caribbean and TT boxers need to work on.” Fight fans can only hope that young men the likes of Alexander and Aaron Prince move from success to success. TT has never won an Olympic boxing medal. It has also been 29 years since Leslie Stewart claimed the WBA light-heavyweight title, and one has to go a further six years back to WBA lightweight champ Claude Noel.