National boxing coach and manager Reynold Cox has now read out the riot act to his boxers following their unsuccessful campaign at the recent Olympic Qualifiers in Azzurri, Italy but he said the boxers' participation at the final Olympic Boxing Qualifiers in Bangkok, Thailand, from May 23-27, will be dependent on their performances at the Continental Championships in April.
Only Aaron Prince, the country's 2020 participant at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, won a fight at the qualifier in Italy. All the other fighters - Tianna Guy, Jeremiah Thomas, Donnell Phillip, Ortega Jokhu and Angel George were all beaten in the first round of the qualifiers.
Prince's triumph over Arena Pakela of Lesotho by unanimous decision last week had put him on course to face Iran's Mal Maghsoudi Moslem, which he lost unanimously. Cox said a rigorous assessment will be done on the performances of the boxers to determine which boxers can be taken to the second qualifiers, and which cannot.
Noting he does not want to just take a boxer for taking him/her sake, Cox said the boxers now have a responsibility to the country and the Ministry of Sports and Community Development, for the good support given to date.
Through the ministry, the country's boxers were sent to a camp in Spain ahead of the Olympic Qualifiers.
"If you cannot win a medal at the Continental Championships, then I don't think you will be able to make it to the Olympic Qualifiers. This is going to be the measuring stick for selection. Apart from that, we will be watching the videos of the performances of the fighters to determine who can be taken and who cannot."
"We will consider several factors such as their competitiveness, their dedication, punctuality, fitness and their determination. All these things we will take into consideration," Cox explained.
For several years Cox said, they have been hampered by a lack of proper preparation.
"For example, as the national coach, my focus has always been on the top two boxers and who can make it to the national team. Now we will have to look at the boxers who finish third, fourth as well, to ensure development in the sport.
"The camp in Spain was a profitable one, but while we have had that for that short period, boxers internationally are accustomed to such level of preparation, which makes the difference," Cox said.
"In T&T, we just don't have the talent pool to produce at least three to four boxers in every division. So middleweight weight boxer Aaron Prince has nobody to push him, Nigel Paul, the super heavyweight fighter has nobody to push him in his category, and the issue goes on and on for all the divisions."
The T&T team is currently in Italy attempting to capitalise on the opportunity to gain much-needed sparring sessions with boxers from all nations there.
They are scheduled to leave on March 12 to return home.