PUERTO PRINCESA , Philippines – Three-time Palarong Pambansa gold medalist Mark Anthony Barriga of Panabo, Davao del Norte, trounced Bicol’s Arjay Aguilar, 23-1, in an auspicious debut in the 46-kilogram pinweight juniors division of the National Youth Amateur Boxing Championships here Monday night.
Barriga, 16, impressed national team coaches Pat Gaspi, Boy Velasco, Boy Catolico and Romeo Brin who flew in to scout the 201 boys and 17 girls from Metro Manila, Southern and Northern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in the five-day competition organized by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) and sponsored by Smart Sports.
The five-foot Barriga, a first year student at the University of Mindanao, unleashed precision combinations to repeatedly beat Aguilar to the punch. Aguilar was completely outclassed by the slick southpaw and it was a wonder the three-round bout wasn’t stopped.
“Kulang pa sa follow-up,” said Gaspi, scribbling notes on the simonpures in a pad at ringside. “But the coaching staff is impressed. Right on the first day of competition, we spotted at least 10 fighters with national team potentials. Barriga is high on our list.”
Barriga belongs to the Barangay Una-Panabo boxing team of Cong. Tony Boy Floirendo. One of three children, he started boxing at the age of nine and has so far collected 14 gold medals, including three from the Palarong Pambansa in Koronadal in 2007, Puerto Princesa in 2008 and Tacloban last year. He has also won a pair of National Youth Open championships.
Another fighter who gave a good account of himself on opening night was Taguig lightflyweight Marcial Angelo who halted Palawan’s Bernardo Castro in 15 seconds of the first round. Castro was knocked down with a head shot, got up and was declared unfit to continue.
Barriga’s stablemate Michael Jhon Bahena, campaigning in the 38 kilogram-light mosquito division of the 13-14 schoolboys age group, also won on a first round stoppage. Bahena stunned La Union’s Ryan Torres with a blow to the head and the referee quickly stepped in.
There were 31 fights on the first-day schedule. Technical delegate Dante de Castro mobilized 23 referees and judges for the event. Two of the officials are females – Charito Borja, 59, and Mae Geraldine Siokon-Cabu-ay, 39. The youngest arbiter is Maasin’s Victoriano Mercado, 30, and the eldest among the males is Emilio Abiso, 59.
A late withdrawal from the tournament was Sydney-based featherweight Robin Palileo who backed out after failing to find a sponsor to fly him in with coach Ric Fortaleza.
ABAP president Ricky Vargas, Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno, secretary-general Patrick Gregorio, vice president Manny Lopez and executive director Ed Picson attended the first-day hostilities at the 8,000-seat fully-airconditioned Puerto Princesa Coliseum, host of the PBA All-Star Weekend this April.
In his welcome remarks, Vargas reiterated ABAP’s commitment to strengthen a nation-wide grassroots development program and stage regular tournaments to discover young talents for training to become future national boxers.
Vargas urged the competitors to give it their all as the national coaches were at ringside to scout talents for the World Youth Boxing Champion-ships in Baku, Azerbaijan, in May. The Baku tournament is the qualifying event for the first-ever Youth Olympics in Singapore on Aug. 14-26.
Vargas surprised the crowd by flying over the country’s five Laos Southeast Asian boxing gold medalists and introduced them one by one to a big applause. They were pinweight Bill Vicera, featherweight Charly Suarez, pinweight Josie Gabuco, lightflyweight Alice Kate Aparri and flyweight Annie Albania. Gabuco led the athletes’ oath-taking.
Vargas said the gold medalists came to inspire the competitors.