Claude Noel totally blind

FAREWELL KING CLAUDE
Sports fraternity remembers boxing champ Noel


Ian Prescott





trinidadexpress.com/sports/local/farewell-king-claude/article_f37eb612-f9c2-11ed-a306-dfbecec3cdec.html

Whatever his circumstances at the end, Claude Noel will forever be Trinidad and Tobago’s first-ever boxing world champion.

Recently, a 54-second video of the country’s first world champion dragging on the floor and screaming for help was posted to social media. Blind and an amputee, Noel was heard calling for his stick. On Sunday, at age 74 (1948-2023), he passed away, the circumstances of his death unknown.

However, at least one man will not forget Noel; he is Michael Paul.

“It’s sad in the sense how his life ended,” stated the former national light-heavyweight and middleweight champion yesterday.

Claude Noel
FORMER WORLD CHAMP: Claude Noel

Members of the St Michael’s Home for Boys together, Paul said of Noel: “He will remain my friend right through. I’ll always remember him.”

Paul, one of the “Friends of Claude Noel,” saw the former champion’s suffering close-up. But he also clearly remembered Noel, the prize-winning boxer.

“He always had the potential to be a great fighter,” Paul said. “He was mentally, physically strong. He was a boxer-puncher.”

Paul recalled one fight that convinced him Noel would go far. It was when he was still an amateur, fighting one Frankie Holder.

“Frankie Holder knocked him down and he knocked down Frankie Holder. He lost but that fight showed the quality of the man. It showed he had what it took to be a world champion...Archie Moore (former world heavyweight champ) saw him and said this is a future world champion.”

Active between 1973 and 1984, Noel fought 41 times as a professional boxer, winning 31 of those bouts, including 18 by knockout. Noel was the fourth T&T boxer to fight for a world title, with Yolande Pompey, Fitzroy Guiseppe and Matt Donavan, all unsuccessful prior to him. Noel began boxing at St Michael’s under trainer Ken Mathias; was with local trainer Bertram Legall for many years as a professional, and got a world title shot with Richard Farah as his manager.

Tobago-born, Noel became the country’s first world title-holder when he defeated Mexican Rodolfo “El Gato” Gonzales for the vacant WBA World Lightweight title at Bally’s Park Place Hotel Casino, Atlantic City, USA in 1981. Aged 33 then, he was at that time the oldest boxer to have won a world title. Three months later, Noel lost his first title defence by knockout to American Arturo Frias, having been ahead on all three judges’ cards. On the way to the World title, Noel was also became a Commonwealth and Latin lightweight champion.

The hard-hitting Noel had previously fought for the World title two years earlier, before finally becoming world champion. He was knocked out by Venezuelan Ernesto Espana in 1979 for the lightweight title, which was vacated by Panamanian great Roberto Duran. After winning his next seven fights, Noel was elevated to number one contender again and in line for a second shot at the title. But the Tobagonian seemed to have hurt Espana at some point in their first meeting and the Venezuelan relinquished the title rather than face him again.

For his achievement in 1981, Noel received the Chaconia Gold Medal in 1982 and the Claude Noel Highway in Tobago was named after him. He also received a Government house in Malabar, Arima. But Noel was never the same fighter after losing his world title and lost subsequent fights to greats such as Nicaraguan Alexis Arguello Mexican Rene Arredondo, the former WBC Junior Welterweight champion and United States Olympic gold medallist Howard Davis Jr.

Also noting Noel’s passing yesterday were both the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT) and the Trinidad and Tobago (Amateur) Boxing Association (TTBA).

SporTT stated: “The board, management and staff of the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT) would like to express deepest condolences to the family and close friends of the former T&T boxer, Claude Noel, after his passing at age 74.”

TTBA president Cecil Forde recalled Noel as part of an era of top T&T and Caribbean boxers that included locals Eddie Marcelle, Fitzroy Guiseppi and Michael Drayton. With later the likes of Carlos Mark, Leslie “Tiger” Stewart and Noel’s nephew David Noel emerging. So competitive was the era, that Claude Noel could never beat Lennox Blackmore, losing twice to the tough Guyanese and former Commonwealth lightweight champion, before becoming world champ.

“Claude’s world title was the culmination of a great era of professional boxing,” Forde said. ‘We had a lot of good, good, good boxers at that time. It was a good era for professional boxing in Trinidad and Tobago.”

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Claude Noel's funeral set for June 10
Son wants a day named after late boxer

by

Walter Alibey
8 days ago
20230605

newsday.co.tt/2023/06/10/no-grand-send-off-for-trinidad-and-tobago-boxing-icon-claude-noel/

A day named after former world champion boxer Claude Noel, is what his family is asking for.

On Sunday, Claude Noel Jr, the second of three sons but the first with his wife Ann Noel, made the request just days after touching down on local soil to complete funeral arrangements for his father. He is here with his brother Sean and mother Ann. Cassius Antoine is Noel's first son.

Noel Jr said the day will be held to remember his dad and the contributions he made to the country and the world in the field of boxing.

Noel died on May 22 at the Mt Hope Medical Hospital after a long battle with diabetes. His nephew Renny Noel who lived with him and took care of him at their Malabar, Arima home, told the media he died after getting a stroke. He also said his uncle was being treated for an infection in the lung.

Noel spent his formative years at the Boys Industrial Home in Diego Martin where the sport of boxing was among several sports taught there. He was not alone, as some other former national boxing champions such as Michael Paul, Michael Drayton, and Wendell Joseph were also the beneficiaries of the coaching of Ken Mattias, and the sports programme offered at the home.

The quartet later went on to box for the Woodbrook Boxing Gym where their trade was fine-tuned and their successes were inevitable. Paul said Noel, however, was destined for greatness as he was never afraid of anyone, regardless of how big they were or who they may be.

"He had a ferocious punching power that was certain to knock down anyone. And he also had a bad mind with it," Paul said jokingly.

Noel's rise to greatness came in 1981 when he defeated Mexican Rodolfo Gonzalez for the WBA lightweight title in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The scheduled 15-round contest went the distance, with Noel prevailing 145-140, 145-141, and 144-141.

Before that, Noel had set the pace for his triumph soon after entering the fray of professional boxing. He defeated Art de Freitas by second-round knock-out in 1973, which started a series of unbeaten fights that led to his first version of the world title in 1979.

The junior Noel said the day for his father is critical as many of the young people today do not know his father and what he has done.

"We are now trying to find out what is the procedure for getting the day name in his honour. This is a great nation, but we must be able to recognise people for their contributions, which people can actually learn from," Noel Jr explained.

He noted also: "This is the 21st century and people can access information at their fingertips. Sadly, we also have lots of people coming into the country and benefiting more than the people who live here."

Noel's funeral is carded for June 10 at Allen's Funeral Home in Arima, but the family has still been toying with the option of a state funeral for him. This, Renny said, was offered to them recently.

"If that is to happen, then it will have to be done by this week. For me, because of the things that my husband did for the country, we would like to have a funeral that is fitting for his achievement and his contribution.

"We expect that people from all over the world would want to pay their respects. So, I don't want the bacchanal and the fight with the government because they have been a tremendous help to him, and we are thankful. All I want is to send him off in a smooth and respectful manner," Ann said.

According to Renny, there are suggestions by people in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) for Noel's body to be given a final ride on the Highway named after him in Tobago.

This, he said, will be a welcomed initiative, but it will all depend on the support for it.