The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER spending the past two weeks in a training camp, Carl Hield said he’s ready to step in the ring today to compete at the International Boxing Association (AIBA) World Boxing Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Hield, 26, was the lone Bahamian amateur boxer invited to compete in the tournament that got started on October 11 and is slated to wrap up on October 27. In preparation for the 18th version of the biannual championships, Hield has been in Almaty participating in the training camp.

“It’s been good, but now I’m ready to fight,” said Hield when contacted by The Tribune yesterday. “I’ve been here working out in the training camp and now I’m anxious to compete.”

While this will be Hield’s second tournament for the year, having competed in the AIBA Elite Continental Boxing Championships in Santiago, Chile, this will be his third appearance at the championships. But for the first time, he will be competing out of the 69 kilo-class division.

Hield has been drawn to compete against Lewis Benson from Scotland.

“I don’t know much about him, so I’m just going to go into the ring to box,” Hield said. “The thing is, this is the first time that we are competing without the headgear, so you have to be careful because I watched some guys get a headbutt and they get cut and they couldn’t finish competing.”

If he is successful, he will square off against Danivar Yeleussinov, who got a bye in the first round. Yeleussinov, a Kazakh boxer, won a gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games and was a winner of his first two matches at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England, before he lost out to Italian Vincenzo Mangiacapre in the semifinals.

Hield, who missed the opportunity to compete at the Olympics, said he’s looking forward to surpassing his previous three appearances at the 15th championships in Chicago, Illinois in 2007, the 16th version in Milan, Italy, in 2009 and the 17th edition in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2011.

“I really want to do well here,” he said. “I think I’ve been competing in this tournament long enough for me to be able to go out there and perform very well to win. I really want to put the Bahamas on the map by becoming the first Bahamian to win a medal at the tournament.”

There are a total of 55 competitors in the men’s welterweight division. While the second round is set for Monday, the semifinals is slated for Wednesday, October 25 and the final is scheduled for Saturday, October 28.

Unlike the previous trips when Hield travelled with Taureano ‘Reno’ Johnson in 2007 and Valentino Knowles in 2007, 2009 and 2011 and they were all coached by Andre Seymour, Hield will be the lone flag carrier in Almaty. While Seymour couldn’t make the trip, both Johnson and Knowles turned professionals.

“It doesn’t matter that nobody is here with me because the camp has some elite coaches working with you throughout the tournament,” Hield said. “So it doesn’t matter. I just have to go out there and do what I have to do to win. It’s going to be tough, but I’m ready for it.”

The championships is considered the signature event on the AIBA calendar, starting in 1974 when the initial event was held in Havana, Cuba for boxers between the ages of 19 and 40, competing in 10 weight categories. This year, 457 boxers from 100 nations are participating.