Trinidad and Tobago boxer Aaron Prince ready for tough Olympic debut

TRINIDAD AND Tobago boxer Aaron Prince gloves up for the first time on the Olympic stage against Slovakian Andrej Csemez on Monday from 12.24 am (TT time).

Olympic coach Reynold Cox believes his athlete has acclimatised well to the environment in Tokyo, Japan and is ready to face his opening test at the Kokogikan Arena.

The veteran coach is quietly confident ahead of the bout and thinks Prince has what it takes to secure an opening victory in the preliminary round of 32 men’s middleweight (69-75kg) encounter.

The Slovakian however, will be no easy test as he boasts a gold medal at the 2018 European Union Championships and a bronze at the 2019 European Games.

“It is not going to be an easy assignment but I have confidence that he should be able to handle it. We are going into the bout in good shape and will hope to take advantage with our tactical plan for the bout,” said Cox on Saturday.

Prior to Prince’s arrival in Tokyo, he spent approximately three weeks in the Russian city of Khabarovsk taking part in a pre-Olympic training camp. He, along with a host of boxers from around the globe, was invited to train there by the International Boxing Association.

Prince’s time spent there would have played an important role in helping the 35-year-old adjust to a similar competitive environment in Tokyo.

Cox added, “We were in Khabarovsk, Russia, which is near the east coast close to Japan for three weeks. So we were able to adapt easily to Japan as we lived in the same time zone.”

If Prince wins his opening fixture, he returns to the ring on Wednesday for the round of 16 matches.

Prince boxed to bronze (welterweight 69kg) at 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games and is a multiple TT champion. He also represented TT at the Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games.