Trinidad and Tobago’s rising boxing star, Makieve “Sniper” Bellille, won his opening two matches at the Under-19 World Boxing Futures Cup in Thailand, then had to miss his round of 16 match against Houssam Boucheta of Morocco due to injury. The result was officially announced as a forfeit win for the Moroccan fighter.
Trained by former local heavyweight Wendell Joku, 17-year-old Bellille had advanced past the round of 32 by defeating Damar Robinson of the Cayman Islands 4-1 after winning his opening fight. But when called to face Boucheta, he never entered the ring.
Bellille opened the tournament by defeating Reyjan Palen of the Philippines 5–0. The T&T fighter claimed a unanimous victory on the judges’ scorecards in the 65kg U19 category. Each of the five judges scored the bout in Bellille’s favour: 28–29, 28–29, 28–29, 27–30, and 28–29, reflecting his consistent dominance across all rounds.
Yesterday, Trinidad and Tobago Boxing Association president Cecil Forde revealed that the young boxer had to retire from the competition due to an arm injury suffered during the second bout. Given his young age and potential, Forde said a decision was taken not to risk Bellille, who still has a chance to qualify for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
“He can still qualify,” Forde disclosed. “He is the top in the Caribbean, and it has to have somebody from the Caribbean, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. But at the same time, when they come back he has to go to the Sports Company and have their physio look at him,” Forde explained. “We will decide then if we will take him forward to the Youth Olympics) or we will wait until next year, because, he’s young. He has tremendous talent.”
Forde added: “We didn’t want to take a chance with him. He’s up and coming. He is one of the good athletes on the horizon. We have a good school programme and he is coming through the school programme. He has about 12 fights locally, with 11 wins, so we decided let us see what could happen with the World Youth Olympics. But he is really talented.”