Nigel Paul Boxing

In 2015 he won the Trinidad and Tobago National Novice Championships and placed seventh at the AMBC American Confederation Boxing Championships.

However, he gained national fame this year when he placed second at the American Qualification Event, for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games, and qualified for the Olympic boxing tournament.

Ironically, boxing was not his first sport of choice as he was an avid basketballer. However, he took up the sport a couple of years ago and, as the saying goes, “the rest is history”.

Paul met ex-national boxer Floyd “The Flying Postman” Trumpet in early 2015 and, ironically, Trumpet was seeking a super heavyweight boxer to mould into a potential ‘worldbeater’.

With little experience, Paul devoted a lot of time towards learning the ‘tricks of the trade’.

In an interview, Paul commented, “Trumpet told me to do something and I did not, and I paid the ultimate price, I have learnt to listen now.” In March of this year, Paul qualified for the Olympic Games after defeating his Argentina opponent Kevin Espindola by a 3-0 scoreline in the semi-final of the super-heavyweight (91-plus kilogrammes) division at the 2016 American Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The top three boxers in the super-heavyweight division were guaranteed places in the Olympics, and the 26-year-old Paul booked his ticket to the Rio Games with a convincing win over Espindola.

Paul, who was a gold medallist at the Caribbean Boxing Championships in Guyana last November, is a member of the Floyd Trumpet- coached Ultimate Gym of Chaguanas.

He will be the first local-born boxer to compete at the Olympics since Kurt Sinnette represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.