January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Hill: Bascome has great potential
Hill: Bascome has great potential
Hill, who won the island's only Olympic Medal with a bronze at the 1976 Montreal Games, gave the 19 year-old welterweight a ringing endorsement following his recent gold medal performance at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic in Columbus, Ohio.
Bascome hopes to walk in Hill's footsteps and represent Bermuda at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
But in order to get there, Hill insists the promising fighter must get a good dose of overseas exposure to help refine his undisputed boxing potential.
Hill said: "I feel he has great potential but being in Bermuda his potential is limited because of the competition you don't have which you need as an aspiring boxer.
"He needs to find sponsorship that can keep him abroad for awhile so he can get the experience he needs that he can't find here. He needs to get really good competition and sparring to make him better and unfortunately Bermuda doesn't have that."
Bascome's trainer, Allen (Forty) Rego, agreed.
He said: "We have to go away because the competition out there is so keen."
In the lead up to the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic Rego exposed his young fighter to formidable opponents in the ring during a training camp in Orlando, Florida that ultimately paid huge dividends.
"The competition in the gyms that we went to was actually harder than the fights itself at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic," Rego smiled.
Bascome is still classified as a novice, which makes him eligible to compete in this month's amateur Golden Gloves in Florida.
"He has to have five more fights before he can go open class, which is good for me right now because I can enter him into the Golden Gloves and those type of events," Rego said. Once Bascome moves up to the next level Rego said the competition would intensify.
He added: "Once you go open class you may only have ten fights under your belt and come up against someone with 110 fights under their belt and that is what we are working towards right now."
Bascome plans to turn pro, but has set his short-term sights on qualifying for the next Olympics.
He said: "My goal is to make it to the Olympics and then turn pro right after that - that is my goal. I don't want to rush into something and my career gets ended one time. I want to get the experience in first."
Hill believes Bascome's recent success in Ohio will inspire him to go on to bigger and better things.
He said: "The gold medal he won is a great accomplishment for him. It will help build him up because every boxer has an ego. And how high a boxer's ego is determines how far they can go in the sport."
In trainer Rego, Hill said Bascome has the right man in his corner.
He added: "Allen (Forty) Rego is a good man and I know Forty is pushing Nikki to the limit. I would think Forty will push him even further than he thinks he can go."[[In-content Ad]]
Comments:
You must login to comment.