The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

ANDRE Seymour, the only AIBA three-star coach in the Bahamas, was presented with his certificate by the Bahamas Olympic Committee yesterday and took the opportunity to highlight the development of amateur boxing in the country.

Seymour’s certification enables him to be able to coach at any AIBA competition, including the Olympics and the World Championships.

Seymour, renowned national team coach and president of the Carmichael Knockout Boxing Club, said 2014 will be an important year for amateur boxing as fighters begin the process of Olympic qualification for Rio 2016.

“This year is going to be very busy for amateur boxing. All of our elite boxers, they will be very busy this year because things are picking up as we start to prepare for the Olympics. The ending part of this month we have about four boxers travelling to the Dominican Republic for the Independence Cup. We go to that tournament every year and traditionally do very well, however there has been a drop off for the last two years. We did not go last year because of finances, but now we have prepared ourselves and we have a group of core boxers that will compete and we expect them to do well,” he said. “After that we will be training for the upcoming events like the CAC Games and the Commonwealth Games.”

With some of the most well known Bahamian names in amateur boxing now among the professional ranks, Seymour said a group of new fighters is ready to step forward.

“Carl Hield is our top man amateur right now, at the highest level. He has been to several World Championships. He is semi-pro with AIBA but we have a lot of young boxers coming up and following the path. We have Rashield Williams, Ronald Woodside, Godfrey Strachan and Keishno Major. These are the ones headed to the Independence Cup and they are senior boxers, they have been around, but now the time has come to really make that push on the international stage so we will be busy,” he said. “They have trained in Cuba under the same programme as Valentino (Knowles) and Taureano (Johnson) for the last two years, so they are now at the elite level.

This event will be the first on a long road to qualification for the Bahamas’ group of fighters as they look to field a team for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“From here, we will see how our three new boxers look at this stage. There will be a good group of boxers from Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, so it will be a good measuring stick for our guys,” he said.

“This year will be a big one for us coming. We know that we can produce Olympic prospects because we have already done it. We feel like we can continue to keep these young men focused on the Olympics and give them the hope to achieve that goal of getting to the Olympics. Once they have the talent, we want to give them the opportunity.”

In order to coach at the international level, coaches must have either a level one, two or three certification.

“AIBA has changed all of their requirements for coaches, so we’re happy that we have these two coaches,” BOC president Wellington Miller said. “But we want to impress upon our coaches that this is the way that it’s going to have to be done and if they want to travel to any of the international events, they have to be qualified.”

Floyd Seymour is the only other internationally certified Bahamian coach, with his level one coaching certification.