Ap­prox­i­mate­ly 60 bouts will be on dis­play for the Na­tion­al Box­ing Cham­pi­onships, card­ed to take place from Thurs­day (Jan­u­ary 18) to Sun­day (Jan­u­ary 20) at the South­ern Re­gion­al In­door Sports Are­na in Pleas­antville, San Fer­nan­do.

It will be the largest turn-out of fight­ers for the cham­pi­onships in many years, and it is ex­pect­ed to fea­ture some of the best T&T tal­ents.

Reynold Cox, the tech­ni­cal di­rec­tor of box­ing said the coun­try's su­per heavy­weight fight­er Nigel Paul will be on show to the lo­cal pub­lic for the first time since 2018.

How­ev­er, an ex­pect­ed box-off be­tween the coun­try's 2012 Olympian Car­los Suarez and Or­te­ga Jokhu for a place on the na­tion­al team for the Olympic qual­i­fiers is gen­er­at­ing huge in­ter­est in the 51kg di­vi­sion. Jokhu, who is con­sid­ered one of the coun­try's ris­ing tal­ents, is down to face Aaron Cum­ber­batch in the fi­nal of that di­vi­sion which fea­tures on­ly two fight­ers.

The win­ner will be crowned the na­tion­al cham­pi­on, but that ti­tle will not earn them a place on the na­tion­al team for two more Olympic qual­i­fy­ing events, sched­uled to be held in Eu­rope. The win­ner will have to take on Suarez in an in­ter­nal box-off for that spot.

Suarez went on the at­tack in the first round against Turk­ish op­po­nent Fer­hat Pehli­van, a south­paw who even­tu­al­ly de­feat­ed him at the 2012 Olympic Games in Lon­don, Eng­land. And his re­turn this time is an am­bi­tious at­tempt at an­oth­er Olympic qual­i­fi­ca­tion.

Suarez can al­so be joined by an­oth­er ris­ing tal­ent Paul Newal­lo, who pulled off a stun­ning vic­to­ry for the gold medal over Jack Surage in a 70kg su­per wel­ter­weight con­test of the Caribbean Cham­pi­ons of Cham­pi­onships Box­ing Tour­na­ment in St Lu­cia last year, as well as Ner­aj Ma­hadeosingh, a bronze-medal win­ner in the feath­er­weight (54-57kg) di­vi­sion of the Caribbean School­boys/girls and Ju­niors Box­ing Cham­pi­onship in 2022.

The na­tion­al cham­pi­onships will al­so in­clude a num­ber of in­ter­na­tion­al bouts to pique the in­ter­est of the fans.

NA­TION­AL BOX­ING CHAM­PI­ONSHIPS

Thurs­day

Elite Novice – 63.5kg

Shalom Phillip vs Cy­lon Phillip

Hen­ry Ru­el War­riors South­ern vs Josi­ah Richards

Elite Novice – 67kg

Ray­mond James vs Joshua De Sil­va

Elite Novice – 92+kg

Ste­fan Ram­nar­ine vs Liam Chin Choy

Elite Novice – 57kg

Maikol Fig­ureoa vs Natha­nial Lewis

Kyle Sal­im vs Shi­va Toolsie

Elite Novice – 60kg

Nicholas Bal­con vs Sun­dar Daw­son

Shane Mo­hammed vs Li­jer Hem Lee

Elite Novice – 80kg

Kal Sobers vs Jabari Chan­dler

Fe­lix James vs Joshua Gar­cia

Elite Male 63.5kg

Don­nel Phillip vs Nevin By­er

Elite Male 67kg

Bri­an George vs Stan­ley Brooks

Dex­ter Vil­lard vs Akeil Otram

Elite Male 71kg

Randy Sook­nar­ine vs Aaron Prince

Fri­day

Elite Novice 63.5 kg

Jaden Boast­wain vs WIN­NER (Bout 1)

Lums­den Is­rai vs WIN­NER (Bout 2)

Elite Novice – 54kg Fi­nal

Mark Sama­roo vs Eu­gene Do­minic

Elite Novice – 71kg

See­quan Ahue vs Tristin Boodram

Dar­ius Pitt vs Mau­rice Jor­dan

Elite Novice – 75kg Se­mi- fi­nal

Nicholas El­liott vs Kester Agard

Lewis Ca­ma­cho vs Zion Jack

Elite Novice 80kg Se­mi-fi­nal

Wescott Benn vs Win­ner (Bout 1.) Jess Mor­ris­son vs Win­ner (Bout 2.)

Elite Novice 92+ Se­mi Fi­nal

Ger­ad Hart vs Win­ner (Bout 1.)

Gio­van­ni Mor­ris­son vs E Her­nan­dez

Youth Male 51kg Se­mi Fi­nal

Ner­aj Ma­hadeosingh vs Gomez Jah Heem

Youth Male 63.5kg

Keron Dy­er vs Aiden Ram­paul

Ju­nior Male 70kg Se­mi Fi­nal

Med Charles vs Ja­di­ah Blake

Luke Tees­dale vs Zade Williams

Elite Novice 67kg

Ray­mond James vs Joshua De Sil­va

Elite 71kg Fi­nal

Joshua Sylvester vs Win­ner

Elite 80kg Fi­nal

Jer­im­i­ah Thomas vs Ko­rdel Lee

Elite Male 92+kg

Jere­omy Rudul­fo vs Nigel Paul

Sat­ur­day (1 pm to 4 pm)

School Girls (13-14yrs) - 44kg Fi­nal

Maya Tere­sa vs Ar­mani Savary

Ju­nior Male – 80kg Fi­nal

Ni­rav Ba­booram vs David Ame­lio

Ju­niors Male – 57kg Fi­nal

Michael Lee Sankar vs Za­hir Mo­hammed

Ju­nior Male – 70kg

Win­ner (Bout 1) vs Win­ner (Bout 2)

Elite Novice – 67kg Se­mi Fi­nal

Joseph Quamie vs WIN­NER (Bout 1)

An­to­nio Alexan­der vs Quin Bar­clay

Elite Novice – 57kg Fi­nal

Win­ner vs Win­ner

Elite Novice – 60kg

RED vs BLUE

Elite Novice – 63.5kg

Win­ner vs win­ner

Elite Novice – 71kg Fi­nal

Elite Novice – 75kg Fi­nal

Elite Novice – 80kg

Elite Novice – 86kg FI­NAL

Isi­ah St. Phillip vs Ron­dell Oliv­er

Sat­ur­day 6pm

Elite Novice – 92+kg

Youth Male – 48kg FI­NAL

Roshan Naren­dra vs Glen Men­doza

Youth Male – 63.5kg Se­mi Fi­nal

Joseph Salazar Akim vs WIN­NER(Bout 1)

Prince Charles vs Dar Sinaswee

Youth Male – 67kg Fi­nal

Ish­mael Hy­po­lite vs Jabari Cross

Elite Male 57kg Se­mi Fi­nal

An­tho­ny Joseph vs Juan Ro­driquez

Shakir Gar­cia vs Ab­dul Tay­lor

Elite Male 63.5kg Se­mi fi­nal

Mikel Med­ica vs Jemel Joseph (SIP) Bless­ing Wal­dropt vs Win­ner

Elite Male 67kg Fi­nal Win­ner vs Win­ner

Sun­day 21st Jan­u­ary, 2023

Elite Novice – 67kg

WIN­NER (Bout 2) vs WIN­NER (Bout 3)

Youth Male – 51kg

An­fer­ney Bap­tiste vs WIN­NER

Youth Male – 63.5kg

WIN­NER (Bout 2) vs WIN­NER (Bout 3)

Youth Male – 71kg x

Paul Newal­lo vs Isi­ah Ma­haraj

Youth Male – 80kg

Joshua Lewis vs Alex Khan

Elite Male 51kg Fi­nal

Aaron Cum­ber­batch vs Or­te­ga Jokhu

Elite Male 57kg Fi­nal

RED vs BLUE

Elite Male 63.5kg Fi­nal

RED vs BLUE

Elite Fe­male 63.5kg

Tian­na Guy vs Ale­sha King (SIP)

Elite Fe­male 81kg

Michelle Durham vs An­gel George

Elite Male 92+kg Fi­nal

Ty­rone St. Clair vs WIN­NER

Elite Male 80kg In­ter­na­tion­al

Yu­ray Preval vs Win­ner

Elite Male 71kg In­ter­na­tion­al

Win­ner vs Tevoy Bharath (Jam)