Potts slams boxer’s secret trip

The Women’s International Boxing Federation (WIBF) mini-flyweight champion pulled out of a defence of her crown last week against Christina Bilinski after Ramnarine and her manager/trainer Bharath Ramoutar failed to travel to Hungary for the bout.

Ramoutar charged that promoter of the bout, Zultan Kiss, manager of Bilinski failed to secure travel visas for the Trinidadians which resulted in them being stuck in a London airport.

After frantic phone calls from London, Ramoutar was able to get travel documents to Hungary but the delay in London meant that Ramnarine would arrive for the title defence just hours before the bell.

Ramoutar said he pulled Ramnarine out of the contest in the interest of her health and safety and the duo returned home.

However yesterday Potts, who has great experience in taking local fighters abroad blames Ramoutar for the mix-up saying that he handled the arrangements like an “amateur.”

“What he should have done was go to the German Embassy in Port-of-Spain and they would have issued him documents to travel to the European countries like Hungary. It was as simple as that,” said Potts.

He said circumstances conspired to expose Ramoutar whose plan was to take Ramnarine out of Trinidad and Tobago without the public’s knowledge which in his opinion is inexcuseable.

“My understanding is that not even the Boxing Board was informed that Ramnarine was leaving the country to fight overseas. I think there may be some inquiry into this affair. She is after all a world champion and holder of a national award,” said Potts.

“Managers and trainers of local boxers”, Potts said, “ must be more transparent with the public and not conduct their affairs in secret which could cause untold problems if arrangements are not handled as they should.”

One is reminded of the mysterious death of a Trinidad and Tobago heavyweight boxer many years ago, coincidentally in Hungary after he travelled there to fight unknown to the public of Trinidad and Tobago.

Potts pointed out that this is the second fight Ramnarine has refused to contest after a title defence against American Marianne Chubirka was called off late last year after a dispute over the weight of the gloves.

“Ramoutar is not doing his boxer any justice with his antics. She must fight to maintain her ranking and hold on to the world championship. Pretty soon he will be told that her crown will be taken away,” said Potts.

He suggested that Ramoutar seek good advice from experienced persons who have intimate knowledge of the fight game and who have beaten the path to Europe and back without any difficulty.

“Ramoutar must understand that he does not know everything and the sad part of it is that his fighter is being placed in jeopardy because of his mistakes. He should realise that it is time to clean up his act and do the right thing,” said Potts.

Potts said Ramnarine has a bright future but should be fighting more frequently against suitable opponents.

And he urged Ramoutar to take a back seat and let his boxer do the talking with her fists and not have her boxing affairs shrouded in secrecy.