Pinay pugs gird for world tilt

Three Filipina fighters – all gold medalists in the recent MVP Cup – are out to make waves at the sixth AIBA World Women’s Championships in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Sept. 6-19 but it won’t be smooth waters in the biennial competition expected to draw over 300 participants from 75 countries in 10 weight classes.

SAN FRANCISCO – Philippine amateur boxing’s hottest prospects Charly Suarez and Annie Albania pulled off convincing victories in the “Philippines vs California” dual meet Saturday at the Koret Recreational and Sports Center inside the University of California compound here.

The 22-year-old Suarez dropped Roman Morales of San Pedro, California Boxing Club in the dying seconds of the third round in their bantamweight class, opening the national teams’ one-week training sojourn in the City by the Bay.

Albania, also a member of the three-boxer elite team of the PLDT-backed Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines, had US national light-flyweight champ Jessica Ponce of the California’s Napa Valley under her control right after connecting with a powerful right on the head just after the opening bell.

So overwhelming was Albania, fighting in the 51-kilogram category and the 2009 Asian Indoor Games gold medalist, that she forced the equally hard-punching Ponce into mandatory eight-count twice in the fourth round to earn a unanimous verdict.

“She hits so hard. She’s one of the hardest punchers I’ve met in my career,” Ponce said later of Albania.

 The three contenders are now training at the Koret Health and Recreation Center in San Francisco with eight others, including seven males, from the national pool. They are scheduled to spar with WBO women's superbantamweight champion Ana (Hurricane) Julaton at the Koret facility or the San Leandro Gym tomorrow afternoon (US time).

ABAP executive director Ed Picson said the three Barbados-bound fighters will skip the Blue and Gold tournament set up by 2004 US Olympic boxing team assistant coach Joe Zanders in Maywood City near Los Angeles on Sept. 2-5 to avoid possible injuries that could jeopardize their campaign in the AIBA event. They will fly directly to Bridgetown from Los Angeles while the rest of the delegation will return to Manila.

The Barbados competition will test the Filipinas' ability to compete in the three weight categories in the Asian Games this November and the London Olympics. Women's boxing will make its debut in the Guangzhou Asiad and the 2012 Olympics with only three classes – 48-51 kilograms or flyweight, 56-60 or lightweight and 69-75 or middleweight.

In Barbados, fighters will battle in 10 classes – 45-48 or lightflyweight, 51 or flyweight, 54 or bantamweight, 57 or featherweight, 60 or lightweight, 64 or lightwelterweight, 69 or welterweight, 75 or middleweight, 81 or lightheavyweight and +81 or heavyweight.

At the moment, only Albania qualifies as a candidate for the Asian Games because of her weight class. It may be too drastic a jump for Petecio to move up to lightweight but Picson said the coaching staff is studying the possibility seriously. An evaluation of the competition in Barbados will assist the staff in deciding on the women team's composition for Guangzhou.

AIBA official and 2009 Southeast Asian Games boxing technical delegate Herbert Embuldeniya of Sri Lanka said recently he expects a record number of participants in Barbados. AIBA is footing the travel bill of 80 fighters, two each from 40 countries slowly developing a women's boxing program like Jordan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Marquee names tipped to be in hot contention for honors include four-time 46 kilogram world champion "Magnificent" Mary Kom of India, two-time lightweight world champion Katie Taylor of Ireland, two-time world welterweight champion Mary Spencer of Canada, two-time world lightmiddleweight champion Arianne Fortin of Canada and two-time world middleweight champion Anne Laurell of Sweden.

It's not certain in what weight class Kom, 27 and a mother of two, will fight in Barbados but she may enter the flyweight division with Albania to size up her chances in the Olympics.

"Mary is a very clever fighter like Annie and if they face off either in Barbados or in London, it will be a thrilling match," said Embuldeniya. "What's crucial in amateur boxing is locating the spot in the ring where the five judges can easily see your punches landing. If you push your opponent into a corner and connect, the chances are not all the judges will get a good view of the action. It takes at least three of the five judges to push the buttons in a console box within seconds of each other for a fighter to score a point."

Albania, 28, is a three-time SEA Games gold medalist and claimed the silver in the last World Championships in Ningbo City, China, where there were 13 weight classes of competition.