Trumpet fights German for crown

TRINIDAD and Tobago’s fighting postman Floyd Trumpet will get an opportunity to bid for  a world boxing championship on Saturday in Berlin, Germany. The Cunupia, central Trinidad resident has accepted an offer to meet Mihaly Kotai of Germany in a 12-rounder for the World Boxing Federation (WBF) super welterweight crown. The bout was arranged by local match-maker Boxu Potts who said yesterday he was confident that Trumpet will defeat Kotai and reap the immediate rewards of winning a world championship.

“Trumpet will become an international star and is certain to be ranked among the top 50 boxers in the better known World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council lists,” said Potts yesterday. The former jockey said he has been assured that if Trumpet is victorious, the Trinidad and Tobago welterweight title-holder will get three fights against top ranked opponents in Europe. Trumpet has won 12 professional bouts with one loss and three defeats in his 15-fight career, with six knock-outs. His solitary loss came at the hands of fellow-Trinidadian Fitz Vanderpool in a controversial bout in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA two years ago for the Caribbean title.

According to Potts, Kotai has one defeat in his 28 bouts to date and has put down 14 of his opponents within the distance. However the match-maker is unimpressed with the German‘s record predicting that Trumpet will blow hard and return home with the WBF belt. “Although we got the fight on short notice I am convinced that Trumpet will seize the opporunity and do himself and country proud on Saturday against Kotai,”said Potts. Trumpet said although he has not fought in eight months he has been training seriously for the past four weeks under Allan Joseph, a protege of  “Cap” Wilkinson, the legendary San Fernando trainer who produced several outstanding national boxers during the decades of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.

Among them were Matt Donovan, the late Fitzroy Guiseppi, the Joseph brothers — Jimmy and Anthony — and Learie Bruce. “He is the most technically qualified coach in the entire Caribbean and has assisted Trumpet to correct several flaws in the short time he has been with him,” said Potts. “I have been training consistently, running a lot, doing glove-work with Caribbean amateur champion Michael Springer and sparring with Timoty McLeod,” said Trumpet. He said he has also been enforcing a strict regimen under the orders of Merril Simon whom he described as his dietician. Potts said among the regional boxers who have won the WBF championship were Vanderpool, now based in Canada and Wayne Brathwaite of Guyana. They both now enjoy successful careers and are listed among the top ten boxers in the world.

Trumpet said he is under contract with Marabella-based promoter Cecil Forde but decided to accept the offer from Potts to fight in Germany after becoming frustrated with his long period of inactivity. “However I intent to fulfil my obligation to fight for the FEDE-Caribbean welterweight championship on August 20, negotiated by Forde here in Trinidad against Barbadian Benjamin Modeste,” said Trumpet. Modeste is a former WBC Continental Americas champion and the long-awaited contest will be staged either at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo or the Central Regional Indoor Auditorium in Chaguanas.