Bahamian amateur fighters Valentino Knowles and Carl Hield were both highly ranked in the region, and both considered strong bets to qualify for this summer's London Olympic Games.
So what happened? Why were they ousted so easily at the final Olympic qualifier, the 2012 American Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil?
Well according to the latter, it was his inability to adjust to the style and tempo that his opponent brought to the ring. He said that he veered away from the style of coaching he became accustomed to while training in Cuba, and it cost him dearly.
"I can't speak for Valentino, but I went in there listening to what Andre was telling me to do and it was different from what I became accustomed to while training in Cuba," said Hield yesterday. "I'm not trying to throw the blame on Andre because I should have adjusted while I was in the ring, but I just think he needs to be with us in Cuba while we are training so that he could see how we fight over there. I know he's a top level coach, but it's just a different style. I'm the type of boxer who likes to hit and move, but in Brazil, I wasn't doing that because I was listening to him. That's my bad because I should have adjusted to suit my style but that's in the past now, so I'm not focussing on it too much. It's disappointing but I'm prepared to move forward."
Hield fell in his initial bout in Brazil, losing to Prichard Colón of Puerto Rico, 14-7. Knowles, who dropped his initial bout to Anderson Rojas of Ecuador, 13-9, was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Hield said that, in the future, hopefully they would look at sending national coaches to Cuba where Bahamian boxers are training, or sending Cuban coaches to national competitions in order to give them better chances of qualifying for future tournaments.
"With us training over there (Cuba), I feel like the national coaches need to be there to get an idea of how we're comfortable fighting, or send our Cuban coaches to national competitions to give us a better chance of qualifying for big meets and winning medals," said Hield. "The boxers and the coach are always supposed to connect, like father and son. I think that would help a lot."
National Boxing Head Coach Andre Seymour said that he's disappointed that Hield feels that way, but added that the boxers have to put the onus on themselves for not qualifying at that final Olympic qualifier in Brazil. The International Boxing Association (AIBA) three star coach said that he was trying to get them to understand that in amateur boxing, you have to be aggressive while they seemed content to just sit back and pick their points of attack.
"Carl is a seasoned fighter so he shouldn't even think that way," said Seymour. "I was simply telling him that you have to throw combinations in amateur boxing. You can't fight it like a professional fight and get leave behind in the first round. You can't listen to your Cuban coaches while you are with me - you have to listen to what I'm saying.
"I think the problem with our boxers, especially Valentino, is that they were looking to come from behind, and that is what caused them to lose. In amateur boxing, you have to throw your hands. If you don't do that, you will get left behind, and that is what happened."
Hield summed it up as a learning experience and is prepared to move on, looking to stay in the amateur ranks for a run at the 2016 Olympics.
"I was ready this time, but this is my first set of Olympic qualifiers so it was a learning experience for me," said Hield. "God has a plan for everyone, so I guess the plan wasn't for me to qualify this time. Physically, I was prepared but it just wasn't to be this time.
"One of the main things is that we're getting good training, but we're lacking competition. We went to the Olympic trials with not one fight for the year, so obviously we were a lil rusty. We don't get to fight here at home, and in Cuba all we are doing is training whereas boxers from other countries are fighting year round. If we're going to be able to compete, we definitely need to get more fights under our belts."
As for the president of the Amateur Boxing Federation of The Bahamas (ABFB), Wellington Miller, he's standing firmly behind his national coach. He said that they have no intention of sending Cuban coaches on national team trips, citing that Seymour is quite capable and more qualified Bahamian coaches are coming on stream.
"That certainly is not an option for us," said Miller. "Andre is rated as one of the top coaches in the world. His qualifications speak for themselves. What we're looking to do is get more Bahamian coaches qualified so that we could have more Bahamian representation on national team trips. It is important to us that our Bahamian boxers and our Bahamian coaches do well. We feel that Andre is very qualified to do the job that he was chosen to do."
Knowles and Hield were aiming to become just the second Bahamian duo to represent The Bahamas at the highest level of amateur boxing - the Olympic Games - joining Nat Knowles and Gary Davis who accomplished the feat 40 years ago. This would have been the first time that two Bahamian boxers actually qualified, as Nat Knowles and Davis didn't have to qualify back in 1972.

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