Suchit looks to bright future

Barbados has produced several outstanding boxers over the years and 21-year-old Paige Suchit, one of this country’s fast-rising talents is eager to write his name amongst the best.

Suchit, an amateur boxer represented Barbados for the first time last year and won gold at the Caribbean Boxing Championships held in Trinidad and Tobago.

Coached by Dana Paulson, a certified level three coach, Suchit who was born in Canada but has Barbadian heritage through his mother, commits to training Monday to Friday, does sparring on Saturdays and uses Sunday as a day for recovery.

Suchit said since joining the Barbados Boxing Association (BBA) family he felt proud to represent the team. “It was good. I loved it and always wanted to fight for Barbados. I also actually wanted to live in Barbados as well but my dad is in Canada, but for me, it is an honour to represent Barbados,” he said.

Faced with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, training for Suchit never stopped as he was able to put in work at his father’s Lincoln Suchit boxing gym called Southside Legion Boxing.

Even though the gym was closed to the public because of COVID-19, Suchit was fortunate to train at the gym early in the mornings and also two to three times during the day.

Competing last year in the 49kg to 52kg at the Caribbean Boxing Championship in the twin-island republic, Suchit explained that it was a walk in the park.

The five foot 11 inches tall boxer is looking forward to some good competition at this year’s regional championship scheduled for later this year in Guyana but yet to be confirmed.

Since joining the Barbados boxing team, Suchit has become friends with local female boxing star Kimberly Gittens and the gifted Jabali Breedy. In fact, Suchit sees his Barbadian boxing compatriots as family.

Now that he is a part of the national boxing squad, Suchit explained how happy it made him feel to see Barbadian boxers being hungry for success.

“People here come from rich families so they don’t have that hunger in them when they come to box. Like in Barbados you can see the hunger when they box when they fight, they want it,” Suchit explained.

He added: “There is lots of talent and potential on the Barbados team and it is just a matter of how hard they work and the discipline they put into it. But there is tons of talent on the Barbados team, there are lots of guys with potential.”

Following in the footsteps of his father Lincoln Suchit who is also his manager, the talented boxer has many goals he wants to achieve. He has his sights set on competing at the International Boxing Association (AIBA) World Championships and even representing Barbados one day at the Olympics.

Once successful in his pursuit, he will join a limited elite rank of Barbadian boxers such as Christopher Shaka Henry who represented Barbados in the light-welterweight division at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

So far to date, Suchit has featured in numerous competitions such as Canadian Boxing Championship, Golden Gloves which is an annual amateur boxing event held in the United States of America. Suchit also represented the Canadian national team when they took on Puerto Rico.

A full-time boxer, Suchit will be arriving in Barbados during October for a month’s training. This is in preparation for the Caribbean championship in which Barbados came second behind hosts Trinidad and Tobago last year and will be looking to emerge as champions this time around.

During this time Suchit is giving back and has donated personal protective equipment care packages to those in need. They have also made some customised masks with the Barbados Boxing Association logo and flag.

The masks, Suchit said, will be brought down to Barbados by his friend Ann Marie Bailey and presented to president of the Barbados Boxing Association Richard Atwell and honorary secretary of the BBA Kathy Harper-Hall.morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb

From left, Barbadian boxer Paige Suchit is determined to represent this country at the World Championships and Olympics.

Paige Suchit celebrate his gold medal for Barbados at the Caribbean Boxing Championships held last year in Trinidad and Tobago.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb