Two crucial fights stand between T&T boxer Nigel Paul and a potential gold or silver medal at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on Thursday.
The big Trinbagonian Super Heavyweight fighter (92+ Kg) is still hoping to produce his best fight of the tournament, and should it happen when he comes up against Mark Petrovskii of the Russian Boxing Federation (RBF) in Thursday's semifinal bout of the tournament, Paul could land an additional US$50,000 to his bank account for reaching the title round, or US$100,000 if he wins the gold medal.
Paul has been enjoying an impressive World Championships, coming behind his unsuccessful run to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in July/August. In the round of 16, he narrowly edged Spain's Ayoub Ghadfa for a place in the quarterfinals, and on Tuesday a more polished performance against Berat Acar of Turkey in which he won 4-1, has set the stage for a history-making moment against the Russian.
At just 22 years old the Russian enjoys a decent record of three TKOs in 22 wins from a total of 30 fights. These statistics include wins against Gerlon Congo (Ecuador), Nelvie Tiafack (Germany) and Jamaican Ricardo Brown, all of which helped in propelling him to today's final four.
Still, he could be in for a challenge with Paul set to enjoy the advantage in height and reach.
Paul, a native of Chagunas is five years senior to his opponent and has a record of 34 fights (20 wins and 14 losses) and will be calling on all his experience in an effort to get over this hurdle which will book him a place in the title bout.
National coach Reynold Cox described Petrovskii as an aggressive fight with some decent boxing ability. Still, he believes it will require a lot more than boxing ability to determine the winner today: " The guy is not really a short guy but he is not as big as Paul in size. But we're more focused on bringing out the best of Paul. I think once he brings out his best we will welcome the opponent.
At this time of the tournament, you have to think about the wear and tear of the tournament. Each guy has fought about three times in a week, so there is a lot of wear and tear right now, so it's about who could weather the storm right now.
It's really not about what the guy does or his style of boxing but whose body will be able to weather the storm."