Olympic boxer, American-based with T&T parentage, Carlos Suarez is set to return home for the National Boxing Championships in January, with hopes of grabbing a spot at the Olympic Games in Paris, France next year.
Suarez who represented T&T at the 2012 Olympics in London, England, has already registered for the championships, from which a team will be selected to contest the last two Olympic Qualifiers in Italy and Thailand between January to June 2024.
Vice president of the T&T Boxing Association Reynold Cox revealed that Suarez is one of few foreign boxers expected for the championships, which are scheduled to take place at the Southern Regional Indoor Sports Arena in Pleasantville from January 18-22.
He (Suarez) will contest the 51kg flyweight (112 pounds), where an exciting match-up will be created with Ortega Jokhu, the rising boxing talent who reached the semifinals of the XXXVII Feliks Stamm International Boxing Tournament in Poland, earlier this year.
At the London Olympics in 2012, Suarez went on the attack early in the first round against his Turkish opponent Ferhat Pehlivan, a southpaw who eventually got the advantage despite Suarez's aggression.
The then 19-year-old Suarez produced a dancing display that won the hearts of the audience, although he went under in the encounter, according to the judge's decision.
The top two fighters in each category from the national championships, will be selected on the national team, Cox said, but he noted that only the top fighter will go to the last two Olympic qualifiers.
The first qualifier will take place in Italy from February 29 to March 11 and the second and last qualifier will take place from May 26 to June 2. Cox said the top boxers from the various continents would have qualified already which means that, although it will still not be an easy qualifier, at least the top fighters will be out.
Upon selection of the fighters to wear the red, white, and black of T&T, the team will be taken to the Boxam Tournament in Alicante, Spain to prepare ahead of the qualifiers. Cox said the boxers will go straight to the qualifiers.
"It will not be easy to qualify a boxer from this point but it is not impossible. Boxers Aaron Prince and Paul have qualified at the last minute in the past, and this time we have Tianna Guy who also has a chance to seal a place at the Olympics, but it will be no easy feat," Cox explained to Guardian Media Sports yesterday.
Cox said he is expecting more foreign boxers for the national championships, having been contacted by a few other fighters during the year, however, he said he will only know who they are when they have registered for the event.
