Barbados Today

Young upcoming amateur boxer Cabral Barriteau Foster wants to see more Barbadians supporting the sport which he says lacks local attention.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY Foster explained Barbados had lots of talented boxers on the island who have the potential to do well and take the sport further.

“I would like to encourage people to come and watch boxing. I do not think that many Barbadians really pay attention to the sport which I think is a shame because we have a lot of talented boxers, a lot of motivated people and I think that boxing has a lot to offer to Barbados. I just wish boxing could get more coverage in Barbados and just flourish,” the former Queen’s College student said.

Foster, the son of Hugh Foster, a consultant in the Ministry of Tourism and Eudine Barriteau, retired vice-principal of the University of the West Indies Open Campus, Cave Hill, started his boxing career at age 22 five years ago. He said many times people looked at him and make assumptions of what he could and could not do.  He added that because of that the idea of wanting to become a boxer stemmed from wanting to feel more comfortable in dangerous situations and wanting to feel that he could defend himself.

“You look at people and you make a perception of what they can and cannot do. I found myself a victim of that in a number of circumstances as a teenager growing up and it kind of motivated me into the thinking I might not be able to change how people look at me but I can change what I can do if they make assumptions based on that,” he said.

He added: “I can defend myself if I have to. I can do what I need to do and not that I try to get into any fights with people but it adds to your self-confidence and it was a self confidence thing for me. Besides, boxing is a tremendous sport for fitness and physique,” Foster said.

To date the middleweight boxer has fought four local bouts dating back to 2012 in the Ronald Wilson Tournament and this year in the Carlton Hope/Lionel Hall Memorial Boxing Tournament held at the Springer Memorial School when he won over Sherwin Estwick of Guyana.

Foster who trains at the National Boxing Gym based at the National Stadium, under the supervision of experienced coach Gary Bowen, said he believed he could get far in boxing once he made the necessary sacrifices. But he explained to Barbados TODAY there was some uncertainty as to whether that was a sacrifice he wanted to make after age 30.

“I could get further in boxing. Should I? That is the question. And the reason I said that is because I have a career outside of boxing and boxing is a risky sport and the higher up you go the more serious you become with it. I do not think I am ready to make boxing the main part of my career so I kind of have that line drawn in my mind where I say: ‘yes I am going to do this thing and you love it but you can’t let it go beyond a certain stage’.

“The last thing I said to myself is that Cabral you are going to go till thirty and see how far you get by that time. I don’t know if I will keep going past thirty, simply because I think I have to give my career room and the rest of my life room,” Foster said.

The 26-year-old added he did not mind making the sacrifice but past thirty it would not make sense pursuing it over his career as an engineer.