Regional slugfest gets going

However the opening ceremony will get underway from 4.30 pm today with a parade of the teams in their national colours at Chaguaramas.

And on Friday vice-president of the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) of Trinidad and Tobago Cecil Forde said they are expected to carry the burden of emerging champions at the annual slugfest.

The return of the boxers from an intense two-month training stint was overshadowed by the return of the Soca warriors footballers from the World Cup in Germany.

Among the top boxers were superheavyweight Enoch Romeo, light heavyweight Densil Salazar, middleweight Andrew Fermin, welterweight Kirt Blackwell, junior welterweight Aaron Hassette, lightweight Aaron Prince, featherweight Christopher De Freitas and flyweight Aaron Cumberbatch.

The boxers were the beneficiaries of a exchange programme between Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba which is regarded as the Mecca of boxing in the Caribbean.

According to Forde, the Under-19 boxing team was also selected ahead of the championship and will be led by Brian George of the Cosmic Boxing Gym in Marabella.

Forde said expectations are high for the young amateur boxers at the championships which will be staged here in the twin-island republic for the second time in three years.

Meanwhile, the overseas participants have already begun to arrive here for the contest.

On Thursday the Cayman Islands boxers touched down on local soil while the Bahamas team arrived on Friday.

Forde said while the Bahamians are expected to pose a tough challenge in the 17-team competition, he feels the biggest threat will come from the defending champions the United States Virgin Islands (USVI).

Also expected to do well are Guyana along with the Bahamians but noted that the USVI is the team to beat.

Meanwhile four world boxing champions will be here for the CABA Championships all of whom are from the Caribbean.

Among them will be Trinidad and Tobago’s Claude Noel, former World Boxing Association lightweight champion.

He will be joined by five-time world champion Emile Griffith from the USVI.

Griffith won world titles in three different categories — welterweight, junior middleweight and the middleweight during the 1960s and 1970s.

Griffith’s countryman Julien Jackson, another ex-world champion will also be making an appearance while Antiguan Morris Hope is the other coming with his island’s team.