Lack of ‘prep’ cost Manswell

Kerston Manswell puts his loss to Cuba’s two-time world amateur heavyweight champion Odlanier Solis in the just concluded Pan-American Games to lack of experience and not being fully prepared to fight. At the reception, hosted by the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs at the Piarco International Airport’s VIP lounge on Sunday evening, the lion-hearted Manswell expressed those sober sentiments. This after he brought home a silver medal. It was his third silver medal at major international competitions within the last twelve months. And although not booking his place for the 2004 Athens Olympics Games, he promised to defeat his rivals for a qualifying spot. Manswell will have to prove his class against the boxers who competed at the Pan-Am Games except the reigning Cuban champion who retained the heavyweight Pan-Am crown he gained at the 1999 Winnipeg Games.

According to the Trinidad and Tobago Olympics Committee’s chairman, Douglas Camacho, who was also at the airport to greet the Caribbean champion, the elimination bouts will be held in Mexico in February next year. In the gold medal match on Saturday evening at Carlos Teo Cruz Coliseum, the 26-year-old Tobagonian was knocked down in the first round by the hard-punching and aggressive Cuban who had demolished his other rivals with awesome power punches and top class right craft. But Manswell displayed great heart and tremendous fighting spirit to extend his much more experienced and seasoned campaigner to the full four rounds. After being decked by the power combinations, the determined TT boxer rose to his feet and withstood everything the Cuban threw at him in the other three rounds during which time he was unable to counter the classy and skilful two-time Pan Am champion.

The Dominican Republic experience was similar to that gained at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom and Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in El Salvador last year. His three silver medals at those Games, make him Trinidad and Tobago’s most successful  amateur boxer. Reflecting on the gold medal match and after he was sent to the canvas on all fours, Manswell said the pride of Trinidad and Tobago kept him in the fight. “It was the pride, which kept me through the fight. To get up and fight for my country and also to keep my dream of going to the Olympics,” he said. “I  want to fight in the Olympics next year. I want to win a medal for my country and I will fight for that opportunity. I was the only guy in the heavyweight division at the Pan-Am Games who fought four guys; the other guys fought only three.

“And at the end, I was still strong. I was knocked down but not knocked out. As I said last year, and as you can see, nothing is wrong with my face,” Manswell said. “I  was expected to get at least a silver medal based on the preparation I had here and in Cuba. Before I went to the Games, I fought in a competition in Puerto Rico and won the gold medal. But when you compare the preparation of the Cuban boxer to me, I had no chance to defeat him. “This guy lives boxing. He eats, sleeps and lives in boxing. They train all the time and have top class facilities and training programmes. They are exposed to the best in boxing. For me, I had only two months of real good preparation and was there competing with him at the very end,” Manswell said. Once given the opportunity and facilities like the Cuban boxers, Manswell promised that Trinidadians and all Caribbean peoples would be proud of him. He thanked God and the people of Trinidad and Tobago and the other Caribbean countries for their support, which he said has helped him in his career.