‘They are forcing me into retirement’

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Trinidad and Tobago’s (T&T) highest ranked amateur boxer Nigel Paul is strongly considering retiring from the sport after being excluded from the list of athletes to receive funding from government.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Sport announced a list of athletes that would receive funding.

Among those included is boxer Tianna Guy, the number-one ranked female amateur in T&T and the Caribbean at 12th in the world.

However, despite being previously approved for elite funding, Paul, who is ranked 14th in the world and fifth in the Americas, said he had not received any money from the T&T government for the past two years.

The 36-year-old Olympian is the current Caribbean Boxing heavyweight champion and has won bronze at the Pan American Games, CAC Games, and the World Championships.

“Simply put, I’ve been waiting on funding for the last 10 years, since 2015…I committed myself to the sport, I committed myself to representing Trinidad and Tobago and since then, I left my job – I was supported by my parents – and I worked my way into the elite status.

“… I dedicated myself 100 per cent to the sport and this is about two years I haven’t received funding. I’ve been waiting and life goes on. I have bills to pay and I have things to do and I have to survive,” Paul said, revealing that he had taken up a job as a trainer in a gym.

“My elite athlete funding was approved in an email from the Ministry of Sport. The last time I reapplied in 2025, waited, reapplied and still waiting. Yesterday was the first big cheque distribution to elite athletes and I didn’t get anything. I didn’t get a call or email or anything.”

A disappointed Paul said he felt “disrespected” and was now contemplating whether to retire from boxing.

“In the moment it hurt. I felt really disrespected because I dedicated myself and my life for the last 10 years to the sport and just waited, putting myself in all sorts of unnecessary debt because, as you know, to continue training is expensive.

“… It really hurt me, because I had decided that I would make a real serious run at the Commonwealth Games this year. I was supposed to go to the CAC Qualifiers with the team, but I stepped back from the CAC team because the CAC and Commonwealth Games are around the same time, to allow the younger boxers to get that opportunity,” Paul explained.

“I had a long conversation with the head coach today and he told me not to make any rash decisions, but honestly, the disrespect felt like I should just step back and step away. It feels as if they are forcing me into retirement.”