Man on a mission

Cagayan de Oro’s Violito Payla was almost given up for gone after failing to win a single match at the 2004 Athens Olympics and losing to Warlito Parrenas in a boxoff for the right to represent the country at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last year.

But Payla was determined to bounce back with a vengeance.

At the 2001 SEA Games, Payla took home a bronze medal and was touted to be a championship contender in Vietnam two years later. Alas, Payla had the misfortune of running into world flyweight champion Somjit Jongjohor of Thailand in his first outing and lost a 20-10 decision in his second SEA Games campaign.

Payla went on to earn a slot in Athens but was jinxed from the start. He faced Uzbekistan’s Tulashboy Doniyorov in his Olympic debut and was bundled out. Payla had beaten Doniyorov twice previously and was tipped to make it three in a row over the Uzbek. However, things didn’t turn out as expected and Payla lost a 36-26 verdict, in the process suffering a knockdown and a bad cut over the left eye.

If bad luck comes in threes, Payla wasn’t spared another fall. He was bumped off by Parrenas in the qualifiers for the SEA Games last year and it seemed like curtains for his simonpure career.

Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez wouldn’t hear of Payla’s retirement and gave him one more chance for redemption. Besides, the bad luck streak of three had run its course so Payla was due for a reversal.

Now a man on a mission, Payla is a win short of claiming a gold medal at the Asian Games in Doha. He takes on nemesis Somjit for the flyweight crown today in a virtual comeback from the grave. Of the country’s seven fighters in Doha, Payla is the only Olympic and Asian Games veteran.

For Payla, it isn’t just a fight for the gold. It’s a chance for vengeance and redemption. Somjit began Payla’s trip to hell and the Filipino is itching to make him pay for it. If Payla breaks through, it will mark an incredible recovery from oblivion.

Payla and Somjit missed facing off at the Busan Asian Games four years ago. The Filipino beat Doniyorov, 31-26, in the preliminaries then lost a 31-29 decision to Pakistan’s Nouman Karin in the quarters. Somjit swept his assignments and beat Karin, 26-7, in the finals to capture Thailand’s single gold medal in boxing at the Games. Only one other Thai, lightmiddleweight Suriya Prasathinphimai, qualified for the finals.

They also didn’t cross paths in Athens. Payla failed to make it out of the first series while Somjit advanced to the second series where he was outpointed, 26-21, by eventual gold medalist Gamboa Toledano of Cuba.

At the SEA Games last year, Somjit wouldn’t be denied a romp. With Payla sitting out the hostilities, Somjit breezed past Roeung Sarorth of Cambodia (second round stoppage on a 21-1 count), Parrenas (16-10) and Tran Quoc Viet of Vietnam (16-7).

To prepare for Doha, Somjit accompanied middleweight Manus Boomjumnong to train for two months in Cuba. Both Thais are in the Asiad finals today.

Payla had a longer trek to the finals than Somjit as he had to go through the qualifications where the Thai enjoyed a bye. He trounced Omran Akbari of Iran, 33-13, in his first match then pounded out a 35-11 rout over Viet, the SEA Games silver medalist. In the quarters, Payla halted Jitender Kumar of India at 1:23 of the third round on a 27-7 count. And in the semis, Payla surprised Yang Bo of China by scoring a stoppage at 1:15 of the third round on a 40-20 count.

Somjit, on the other hand, beat Anvar Yunusov of Kazakhstan, 25-20, and Mira Sarsembayev of Kazakhstan, 20-11, before halting Katsuaki Susa of Japan at 0:50 of the third round on a 23-3 count to arrange the showdown with Payla at the Aspire Hall 5.

Somjit, 31, is a heavy favorite to beat Payla as a former world champion with gold medals in the Asian and SEA Games. But age is an advantage for Payla who is now at his peak.

The Philippines hasn’t won a boxing gold in the Asiad since Onyok Velasco, Elias Recaido and Reynaldo Galido hit paydirt in a Hiroshima hattrick in 1994. Payla could end the drought with a vengeful win over Somjit today.