Tunacao hopes to be PSA top awardee

Malcolm Tunacao, currently the only Filipino world boxing champion, has another major achievement in mind these days and that is to win the 2000 Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Athlete of the Year Award.

Tunacao, the reigning World Boxing Council flyweight champion, and Dorothy Delasin, this year’ top rookie in the star-studded US Ladies Professional Golfers Association, are locked up in a tight, exciting battle for the prestigious award.

Members of the PSA, the country’s oldest sportswriting fraternity, are still deliberating on who between the two athletes truly deserve the award. In case of a lockup, Tunacao and Delasin will share the award to be handed out Jan. 18 at the Holiday Inn Hotel.

"Pero sana ako ang manalo dahil talagang ina-ambisyon ko din na maging Athlete of the Year kahit noon pa," said Tunacao, still in Mandaue City where he recently celebrated his 23rd birthday – and the holidays – with his wife Roda and their two kids.

"At isa pa, ako na lang po ang naiiwan na world champion natin sa boxing ngayon," added Tunacao. "Mahalaga sa akin ang award na ’yan lalo na at may pinagha-handaan akong laban sa Thailand itong darating na February."

Tunacao snatched the WBC flyweight crown from Thai boxer Medgoen Kratingdaen early this year before defending the crown for the first time by battling Japan’s Shoji Kobayashi to a draw in Tokyo last August. Tunacao, who trains at the Aldeguer Gym in Mandaue alongside former WBA minimumweight champion Joma Gamboa, will return to Manila this week for the final phase of his preparation for his next title defense on Feb. 15 against another Thai fighter. — Abac Cordero