THE ISLAND’s highest-rated boxer, Shawn Terry Cox, says the sport in Barbados is on the canvas.
The man who won gold in 2002 and silver in 2006 at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, said things were so bad that he’s finding it almost impossible to find a sparring partner as he prepares for one of the biggest battles of his two-year professional career, on June 19 against a Colombian opponent.
“It seems like nobody wants to spar with me anymore. They seem to think that I will hit them too hard. I don’t know what is going on in Barbados and we are suppose to have a lot of boxers here.
“It’s not like I am trying to kill anybody in sparring, but it’s all about learning from each other,” Cox said.
The 35-year-old, who turned professional in 2008 after an outstanding amateur career, said the situation had him worried.
“It is affecting me a lot, because you can go on the road and do a lot of running. You can go on the punching bag for eight or nine rounds or do lots of sit-ups and push-ups but sparring is very important,” he pointed out.
Cox added that in many ways he was pleased when his fights ended in the first or second round because without sparring he was unaware of his level of readiness in the ring.
He said his manager Sam Layne came to the gym daily at 4 a.m. and gave him a lot of work but there was only so much he could do.
Cox, the only boxer from the English-speaking Caribbean to make it to the 2000 Olympics where he was beaten by one of the favourites, Frenchman John Dovi, said he recently returned from Las Vegas where he spent six weeks at Floyd Mayweather’s Gym.
“This was my second trip there. The first one was only three weeks. We did a lot of sparring and throwing lots of punches. To win a fight, you have to throw a lot of punches, so the same thing must be done in training.”
Cox said that after his fight later this month he would be seeking more funds for another trip to Las Vegas to train for a possible big fight.
The boxer said that his most recent bout was in Trinidad where he stopped his opponent in the second round. He has a record of 11 wins, including ten knockouts, and one loss.
On the state of boxing in Barbados, this country representative at the Pan American Games in 2003 and 2007 said that the sport had been given a knockout blow and was not recovering.
Cox lamented that there was a glaring lack of basic facilities.
“We don’t even have a gym. Right now, I am still training in a storeroom at the Stadium. We should have had a boxing gym by now.
“When you come into the Stadium you see punching bags that are taped up and tied up and the only proper gloves in there are the ones for the Barbados Defence Force,” he revealed.
Cox reiterated that it was not easy being a boxer in Barbados and young fighters were not encouraged to continue in the sport.
“I have been doing it for a long time and it’s getting harder. I have seen boxers overseas with superior equipment, yet they are not as good as our boxers.”
