P18-M budget allotted for boxing golden quest

Armed with an P18 million war chest, the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) is going all out for gold at the Beijing Olympics. But so far, only lightflyweight Harry Tañamor has qualified to fight for the country. The objective is to qualify at least four more boxers from the Olympic qualifiers in Bangkok this month and in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in April.

ABAP president Manny Lopez said yesterday the budget was approved by PLDT chairman Manny Pangilinan three months ago and P4.5 million has already been used to prepare the fighters for the qualifiers. The amount is over and above the P30 million budget earmarked by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for the delegation to Beijing. The PSC budget includes an allocation of a monthly stipend of $300 to $500 for each athlete.

Lopez said his target is to qualify two fighters in Bangkok and two more in Almaty to send a team of five to Beijing. The Philippines qualified four fighters in Sydney in 2000 and four in Athens four years ago.

Lopez singled out flyweight Violito Payla, bantamweight Joan Tipon, featherweight Orlando Tacuyan, lightweight Genebert Besadre and lightwelterweight Adam Bigornia Fiel as ABAP’s top bets in the coming qualifiers.

“Our campaign has just begun,” said Lopez. “We know we’re treading on rough waters. Thailand hasn’t even issued an invitation for us to participate in the Bangkok qualifiers but we’ll be there, whether they like it or not. They’re spreading the malicious lie that we’ve been suspended by AIBA. We know what we’re up against. We’re coming prepared.”

Lopez said PSC chairman William Ramirez has confirmed President Arroyo’s go-signal to hire a Cuban coach for the Filipino fighters. 

Ramirez and Rep. Monico Puentevella met with President Arroyo in Malacañang the other day after the two-hour joint conference of the Philippine Olympic Committee and PSC to coordinate preparations for the country’s participation in the Olympics. During the 30-minute meeting, President Arroyo instructed Ramirez to fly to Cuba and bring back a boxing coach.

However, Lopez said contracting a high-caliber Cuban boxing coach isn’t easy.

“Right after the Athens Olympics, we tried to bring back our former Cuban coach Raul Fernandez Liranza,” said Lopez.  “We offered a $3,000 monthly salary which was unprecedented and even sent him round-trip tickets on two separate occasions. We went to the airport to fetch him but he never came. Apparently, the Cuban Ministry of Sports had other plans for Raul who is now their national coach.”

Early next week, Ramirez, Lopez and Pangilinan are scheduled to confer with Cuban Ambassador Jorge Rey Jimenez on how to facilitate the recruitment of a Cuban coach. Ramirez and Lopez are prepared to go to Havana to speed up the selection process.

Lopez said he will recommend the hiring of either a national-level coach like Liranza or a combination of an experienced mentor and a provincial coach. The top Cuban coaches whom Lopez has in mind include Sarbello Fuentes, Carlos Mena, Julian Gonzalez and Pedro Reyes.

An option is hiring the older brother of Cuban boxing mastermind Dr. Alcides Sagarra with a young provincial assistant. Dr. Sagarra, 71, is credited for delivering 32 Olympic medals in boxing. He personally coached six Cuban fighters to 10 Olympic gold medals – Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon, Armando Martinez, Emilio Correa, Jorge Hernandez and Joel Casamayor.

“If we hire Dr. Sagarra’s brother, we can be sure that Dr. Sagarra himself will take a personal interest in our team,” said Lopez. “He told me he will come once a year for a month to supervise the training of our fighters.”

Lopez mentioned the reason why the Cuban government has not acted on the Philippine request for a coach is because of a pending accountability of about $2,000.

“I was shocked when I found out,” said Lopez. “A few years ago, someone hired a Cuban coach outside of the PSC and still owed the Cuban government about $2,000. But we will settle this problem right away.”

Lopez said after the Bangkok qualifiers, he will send the remaining Olympic candidates to tune-up tournaments in Iran and India before the next qualifiers in Almaty.

As soon as the Filipino qualifiers are confirmed, Lopez said he will invite fighters from other countries to train here before going to Beijing.

“We did something similar two years ago before the World Championships in China,” said Lopez. “We invited fighters from eight countries, including Italy, England and France, to train with our boys in Baguio. We’ll do it again to prepare our fighters for Beijing.”