Pinoy pugs vow bounce back

MANILA, Philippines - The five-man Philippine boxing team has promised to bounce back with a vengeance after failing to crash the third round of eliminations in the recent 15th AIBA World Championships in Milan, Italy.

The fighters arrived in Manila last Tuesday, ending a long stay away from their families since departing to train in Havana last month.

Bantamweight Joan Tipon, featherweight Charly Suarez and lightwelterweight Genebert Basadre won their opening bouts to spark the Philippines to a rousing start but after a 3-of-4 surge, the team lost four in a row to end the campaign with a whimper.

The only first round loser was lightweight Joegin Ladon. lightflyweight Harry Tañamor drew a bye in the opening round then dropped out of contention in the second round.

At the previous World Championships in Chicago two years ago, Tañamor bagged a silver and two fighters, flyweight Violito Payla and Basadre, fell a win shy of claiming a bronze apiece. Four contenders were ousted in the first round.

Lack of foreign exposure hampered the Filipinos’ progress. National coach Pat Gaspi said he fighters would’ve been more prepared if they had more international credits.

The only overseas tournaments that were participated in by Filipino fighters were a dual meet in Guam last January and the King’s Cup in Bangkok last April. The Philippine Sports Commission arranged a 2 1/2 week training in Havana before the World Championships.

Gaspi said he would’ve preferred to book two tough tournaments in Havana and competitions in Finland, Mongolia and Kazakhstan in addition to what was in the program.

ABAP executive director Ed Picson said there will be closer coordination between Smart Sports and the PSC in making sure of foreign exposure at least once a quarter next year. Picson added support from the private sector will also facilitate the bookings.

After their elimination, the Filipino fighters continued to troop to the Mediolanum Forum and took down notes on the action. Picson assigned them to scout the fights and submit reports on their findings - in whatever language or dialect they preferred.

“We couldn’t rebook our tickets because of the high costs involved so we decided to stay until the end of the competitions but this was no vacation,” said Picson. “The fighters continued to train and we gave them scouting assignments. If they didn’t realize it before, now they know we mean serious business.”

Gaspi said there is no substitute for hard work in the gym. “We must be more dedicated,” he continued. “We hope there are no more delays in our foreign trips because we badly need exposure. My other suggestions are we should try to include a representative to the referees and judges team for every international tournament because relationship is important in AIBA. If we could host an international tournament, that would be very good because it will be our chance to get closer with AIBA and the referees and judges.”

Gaspi rated the performance of the five fighters as “fair” on the whole.

“We won three fights and that’s with very little international exposure,” said Gaspi. “We could’ve done better. But we’ll sacrifice even more, work ever harder.”

Picson said waiting for the male fighters is a training camp in China before campaigning at the Southeast Asian Games in Laos late this year. For the female fighters, a team of four will compete at the Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam next month. Then, the pool will train possibly in India before the Laos tournament.

Assistant coach Chavez said if it takes just visiting his family once in three months, that’s the sacrifice he’s willing to make.

“We’ll train harder in Baguio,” said Chavez. “This is for our country. It hurts when he hear people criticize us. We don’t want to lose. We know we can win with the support of the PSC and Smart. We’re very encouraged by the presence of Mr. Vargas and Mr. Gregorio in Milan and Mr. Picson is with us all the way.”

The fighters said they’re ready to give it their all for flag and country.

“I’ll work on my speed and the ability to read my opponent’s style,” said Tañamor. “Training hard comes from the heart. If I have to fight as a flyweight, that’s what I’ll do.”

Ladon said he’ll focus on speed and delivery of punches in his training.