Dwight Cadle is IBA Certified Boxing Coach

Dwight Cadle Jr.

The first qualified, Belizean boxing coach since the International Boxing Association began a recertification exercise in 2013 is Dwight Cadle Junior.  He has been hitting the books and the punching bags hard for the past year, preparing himself to lead the next crop of Belizean pugilists to the global stage.  Prior to Cadle’s accreditation, local boxers were unable to fight at the international level because their coaches were not IBA-certified.  This afternoon, News Five spoke with Cadle and BBA President Moses Sulph about the achievement.

Dwight Cadle Jr., IBA Certified Coach

“To get to the IBA international coaches star two, there are prerequisites. So you have to be a star one and you must have that star one for a year, which is just basics that you know how to coach and you know how to take care of athletes pretty much because it is not only boxers, but athletes. After that, they put you through a series of tests; they test you to make sure you understand the body and how the body works with exercise and how to work with young people and older youths. So pretty much I had to have a next year training in the gym, learning, studying. There is a book; it is called the IBA manual which is responsible for Olympic Boxing. So it is anything amateur up to Olympic; that’s what they specialize in and they try to get coaches certified. And previously, Belize could not enter any Olympic qualifying matches because there was not a certified coach, but now that I sat the test and I passed, now we are eligible to enter into anything that the Olympic Association is having. Anything that is related to Olympic or World Boxing other than professional level that we see on TV, I am capable of taking boxers to represent our country in that now.”

Moses Sulph

Moses Sulph, President, Belize Boxing Association

“It’s very important because it is not specified to this gym only. Dwight yes, is a two star specified coach which is very important because without that certification, you cannot represent Belize in any international events: from Pan Am Games Qualifiers to Central American Games; all those games you cannot go to those games if you are not certified.  And this is one of the more important things…when I became president, I was trying to inform everyone you need to develop, meaning that you will have to study and you will have to go out and take these exams and certification because if you don’t, you cannot leave the boundaries of Belize in representing Belize as a coach with boxers. They will not allow it. I am not the person who wrote the statutes or wrote the technical rules or anything; those were written by IBA, which is our international governing body. And these are the procedures you must go through in order for you to accomplish what you want to accomplish.”