Treasure Unearthed For Local Boxing

Former British light-welterweight champion Ashley Treasure Theophane is reconnecting with his Saint Lucian roots while giving back to local boxing. Now 44, Treasure is visiting Saint Lucia with his brother and their mother, but he made sure to include a meaningful stop at the Vigie boxing gym this week. There, he held a training session with over a dozen aspiring boxers, including Saint Lucia’s Caribbean youth champion, Alex Nachan.

Theophane, whose record reads 31 wins, four losses, and one draw, is no stranger to Saint Lucia. His dad hailed from Canaries, and, in his younger years, he dreamed of representing the nation in international competition. In 2007, he was part of the Showtime in Paradise card at what is now the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground. After working with the current generation of Saint Lucian boxers, and putting them through their paces, he declared himself well pleased.

“It was great. This is where my father was born, so it means a lot, you know, to give back, and to try to help them to get to where I was, and to do even more than what I did,” Theophane said. “So yeah, I am very proud to be here.

“You know, they’re very fresh, so they can still learn. And they got a nice way to go. They know the basics, which is great. There’s a few of them I think could go very far. 

“For me, from 20 years ago, I wanted to fight for this island. I tried to fight for the country years ago, so it’s always meant very much to me. So whatever I can do, I will. If it’s to send stuff here or whatever, I’ll do what I could to help.”

President of the Saint Lucia Boxing Association, David ‘Shakes’ Christopher, described the visit by the former British champion as significant. The Vigie gym is less than a decade old, and the federation is working with the Government to build another boxing-specific facility in the south of the island. With that in mind, he said Treasure’s arrival could not be more timely.

“It’s a plus for us,” Christopher said. “It’s like having three aces in a poker game. And when you have these kinds of quality boxers from out in the world, everybody knows these guys’ achievements. I hope the boxers utilise all the knowledge he’s sharing with them.”

The school programme in Castries and Vieux Fort has unearthed a number of boxers in recent years, with coaches from Saint Lucia, Guyana and Cuba guiding their development. Christopher envisions greater growth for the sport, but lamented that efforts to get gyms going in areas like Soufrere and Choiseul, and at the Bordelais Correctional Facility are yet to bear fruit three years on. 

Saint Lucia will host the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Championships in August and talks are underway to get the fighters into a training camp ahead of that assignment.

“Two weeks now, we’ve been planning to go to Vieux Fort, where we can identify a home for the Vieux Fort Boxing Club,” he explained. “If you notice the Vieux Fort boxers right now, most of the elite boxers is from the Vieux Fort programme. And we spoke to the minister, and we doing a site visit in Vieux Fort to see where we can acquire space that we can create a home for these boxers. I think they outgrow where they at right now. And sooner or later we’ll be coming back to you with that information.

“We just need to pick up the momentum, and so hopefully we can get back in that prison and get the Boys Training Centre and get the programme running over there. But we’re keeping our expectation high, and hoping that at the end of this year, we can have more clubs, and more boxers coming into the national programme.”

The association is keen to work more closely with Theophane going forward, with opportunities to find higher levels of training for homegrown boxers. They are also hoping to collaborate with the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism ahead of the OECS Championship, to increase the marketing thrust for the further growth of the sport on the island.