The Trinidad and Tobago Boxing Board of Control (TTBBC) will partner with the World Boxing Council (WBC) to stage a historic seminar for coaches, referees and judges March 20-22 to which Guyanese are invited to attend.
The three-day seminar will be held at the VIP Lounge of the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port-of-Spain.
According to well-known boxing personality, Boxu Potts, the event will mark a significant turnaround in the sport, focusing on education and training which is hoped to create a platform for a booming boxing industry.
Potts, director of the WBC Caribbean and Central America Youth and Amateur Programme, under whose auspices the workshop will be held, said the local boxing board under its chairman Dr. Barry Ishmael must take credit for the vision and foresight in conceptualizing the ground-breaking event.
The other members of the TTBBC, a Cabinet appointed regulatory body governing the sport, are businessman Symon De Nobriga, medical practitioner Dr. Rochelle Mohammed, retired Policeman Terry Young, and Cleopatra Borel, this country’s most outstanding field athlete specializing in the shot-put.
Potts said that participants, who will be afforded free registration, will be exposed to three days of intensive training, in both theory and practical sessions, and their progress will be evaluated over the three days in order to receive authoritative WBC certification.
“At the end of this highly ambitious programme, the first of its kind anywhere in the world, we hope to create a cadre of knowledgeable professionals who can add to the scarce human resource pool and add capacity to the dwindling boxing stock, not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but throughout the Caribbean and the world,” said Potts.
On Saturday, Potts said the facilitators for the courses are four of the most experienced professionals in their field who command the backing of the WBC, the powerful world boxing organization headed by Mauricio Sulaiman, and headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.
Potts named famed American trainer Mustafa Saad Mohammed, internationally recognized and respected referee Joe Cortez; Bob Yalen, one of the most knowledgeable officials in the modern sport; and the experienced Will Boodoo, a former top Guyanese boxer who campaigned in Trinidad and Tobago in his heyday and is now based in Canada.
