3 RP pugs eye final; Galido takes bronze

HAVANA, Cuba — Welterweight Reynaldo Galido settled for the bronze in the Cordova Cardin boxing championships Saturday night, leaving only three members of team Caltex Philippines with a chance of reaching the finals of their respective divisions at the "Kid Chocolate" Gymnasium here.

With Galido joining four others in the sidelines, the Philippines’ hopes for a gold-medal finish now lies on flyweight Violito Payla, bantamweight Arlan Lerio and lightweight Joel Barriga, who will all have their hands full Sunday night against fancied Cuban boxers.

Galido, a navyman who turns 30 in three weeks, bowed to Cuba’s Lorenzo Aragon, 4-11, after taking a bye in the first round. After a quiet opening round, the two fighters traded heavy right straights in the second although the Filipino fighter was, most of the time, short on his punches against his taller rival.

Aragon piled up the points in the third and, with only 33 seconds left in the bout, connected with another right to the face, forcing the referee to give Galido a standing eight count. The Cuban used his height advantage not only to score but also to evade the Filipino’s heavy bombs.

Payla, a rookie in the international arena and the only foreign boxer here so far to have beaten a Cuban in the first round, faces Atlanta Olympics flyweight gold medalist and Sydney Olympics lightflyweight bronze medalist Maikro Romero.

Lerio will go up against 2000 World Youth bantamweight champion Puro Pairol, while Barriga, who turned 28 last Thursday, takes on Sydney Games lightweight champion and 2000 World Championships gold medalist Mario Kindelan.

But no matter what happens in the finals, Team Caltex Philippines, supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Pacific Heights and Adidas, is in for a big improvement since last year it failed to land any medal in the tournament now just five months away from the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.

Only two Filipino boxers have gone better than winning the bronze in this annual event with Mansueto "Onyok" taking the lightfly silver in 1996 and Lerio nailing the flyweight silver in 1998. Seven nations, including four teams from Cuba, are competing this year.

Lalaban ang mga bata natin pero kahit ano ang mangyari ay maganda na ang pagkakahuha ng medalya dito. Sa mga Cubano lang naman sila nahihirapan dito at ang maganda naman doon ay makakadagdag ito sa experience nila," said head coach George Caliwan, assisted by Nolito Velasco, Alex Arroyo and Darcito Teorodo. "Apat na bronze ay hindi na masama."