Inexperience showed as Trinidad and Tobago boxer Makieve Bellille missed a chance to secure a medal at the Dakar Youth Olympic Games in Senegal Monday.
Bellille, known as "The Sniper", was beaten 5-0 by Spain’s Pablo Souto Macias in a 65kg quarterfinal contest at the Dakar Expo Centre's Dex Pavillon. A victory in the bout would have guaranteed him a spot in the semifinal round and at least a bronze medal.
However, facing the world second-ranked boxer in the category, Bellille struggled to handle his opponent's aggression and was outscored in all three rounds. Judges Karn Naklan (Thailand), Barry Tuckett (Ireland), David Lorenzo (Panama), Sarra Bouhlel (Tunisia), and Therese Ceriales Ludy (Philippines) ruled unanimously in favour of the Spaniard: 10-9 in the first round, 10-8 in the second, and 10-9 in the third.
His coach, Wendell Jokhu, immediately pointed to a lack of proper sparring preparation ahead of the bout. Bellille received a bye straight into the quarterfinals, but as Jokhu said his fighter "felt out of it" during the contest.
“The Sniper” had previously gained valuable ring time by defeating local rival Josiah “The Jigsaw” McEachnie in the main event of “The One” boxing card at Jerry Junction Car Park, Carapichaima, in September.
However, that proved insufficient on the big stage. Jokhu told Guardian Media Sports that they had hoped to participate in an international training camp as part of the Olympic preparation, as there were no local boxers capable of providing the level of sparring Bellille required.
Just a day after expressing high hopes for a historic victory, Jokhu, a former boxer himself, was realistic about the gap in preparation. "He fought well, but he was too experienced. He went into the fight with only 16 fights, while his opponent had over 100 and something fights, so you see the disadvantage he was at there," Jokhu explained.
When asked where his fighter fell short, Jokhu highlighted the lack of high-level ring condition. “ I feel it's the sparring condition. He didn't have that sparring condition because the elite team went to the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games at the same time. So we didn't have anybody to give him any sparring.”
“We were looking forward to a camp. It would have been the same tournament where Macias would have gone to, the World Game tournament, and he captured a silver medal. The boy has talent, but we need to get more tournaments, more fights. We wanted to fight people from China, people from America, Kazakhstan, Spain, and England ahead of this tournament, but it didn’t work out for us,” Jokhu added.
