TTO to Tokyo: Boxer Aaron Prince fine-tunes in Russia ahead of Games

NAME: Aaron Prince

AGE: 35

SPORT: Boxing

EVENT: Middleweight category (75kg)

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: Debut

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: Bronze medal (welterweight 69kg) at 2010 CAC Games, Commonwealth Games participant, Pan American Games participant, multiple time TT champion

DESPITE being a newcomer to the Olympics TT boxer Aaron Prince is primed and ready for the biggest stage when he enters the ring at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, from July 23-August 8.

Prince, a middleweight 75 kg boxer, is in Russia finalising preparations for the global event.

Prince did not have to compete in recent months to book his place in the Olympics. After the cancellation of the Americas leg of the Olympic qualifiers in Argentina, scheduled to punch off in May, the World Boxing Association set up a task force to assess individuals by the current regional rankings.

Three boxers in the Pan American middleweight division left the category pushing Prince up the rankings from seventh to fourth. That was enough to earn qualification for the Olympics.

Prince will become the fourth boxer to represent TT at the Olympics following in the footsteps of Kurt Sinette (1996), Carlos Suarez (2012) and Nigel Paul (2016). Prince is in Russia with long-time coach Reynold Cox.

Prince, along with boxers from around the world, was invited by the International Boxing Association to participate in the pre-Olympic camp.

“I am feeling good, no complaints so far,” Prince told Newsday from Russia.

Describing his emotions leading up to the highlight of his sporting career, Prince said, “It is hard to explain the feeling…I have been in the sport for a lot of years. I am excited to be here and I am eager to perform on the biggest stage. I am not feeling nervous or anything like that.”

Prince said the Russian camp is an opportunity for him to put the finishing touches on.

“We fine-tuning, working on the technical aspects of things. We working with some of the boxers who we may be facing at the Olympic Games.

“This sparring here, this work that we are doing here would be at a higher level…so this experience here is going good and I need it right now. We are seeing the mistakes, we are ironing out the mistakes and we working going ahead.”

Boxers from the Dominican Republic, Congo, Venezuela and Guyana are among those training at the camp.

At 35, Prince said he still has his gloves on because he was confident an Olympic berth was a possibility.

“I am still in it because I still had the belief that I could have qualified. Although they had cancelled the qualifying event I still believe I could have gone down there and fight my way into the top four.”

Asked what the TT public can expect from him, Prince said, “History will be made at the Olympics.”

How will the covid19 pandemic affect your experience in Tokyo? “I was sort of expecting the crowds. Fighting in an arena with no one in it that will be kind of (different). It will be like you are at the gym working out.”

Prince and his team will spend about two weeks in Russia, before flying to Japan around July 20.