New lease on life for Canoy

MANILA, Philippines - It was six years ago when two-time Asian Games boxing bronze medalist and 1995 Southeast Asian Games second placer Eric Canoy approached Zamboanga City Rep. Erbie Fabian to sell his hard-earned mementoes of triumph in a fit of desperation.

Canoy, now 35, had no means of livelihood. After retiring from amateur boxing in 1998, he left the Air Force and lived in Antipolo, trying to eke out a living by selling “puto” in the streets while his wife Marife worked in uncle and councilor Justo Justo’s office in Pasay City.

As opportunities dried up in Metro Manila, Canoy decided to go back to his hometown. With his wife and two children, he relocated to Zamboanga City in 2004, not knowing what the future would bring. The first thing that came to his mind was to seek Fabian’s help.

“I went to Congressman Fabian and asked if he wanted to buy my medals,” said Canoy. “I had no direction in my life and turned to drinking. He took pity on me and gave me new hope. He employed me in his office and challenged me to turn pro. I was 32 then but I could still fight. He gave me the biggest break of my life. It was like something that fell from heaven.”

In his amateur days, Canoy was an outstanding featherweight. At the 1994 Hiroshima Asiad, he brought home a bronze medal and was rewarded P250,000 by President Ramos. The next year, he took the silver medal at the Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai and got a P30,000 bonus. In 1998, he bagged another bronze at the Asian Games and received a P500,000 prize from President Estrada.

With his ring earnings, Canoy bought a 100-square meter property and built a modest home for his parents in Zamboanga City. His father Eliseo, now 73, is a fish-net maker and wife Gloria, now 68, a housekeeper. Canoy, the fourth of eight children, was the only achiever of three fighters in the family to reap international honors. His brothers Manuel and Marlon also tried their luck in the ring as simonpures in former Manila Mayor Mel Lopez’ program but never prospered. Today, Marlon is a fish-net maker like his father and Manuel, a tricycle driver. Canoy’s parents, brothers, sisters and their children all live in the small house which he paid for with his blood, sweat and tears.

Fabian conjured visions of Canoy following in the footsteps of legendary Zamboanga City fighters like former world junior lightweight champion Ben Villaflor, Star Flores, Little Frisco, Flash Gallego, Rocky Marcial and Noel Garcia.

Canoy didn’t let Fabian down. He turned pro in 2007 and a year later, halted Tanzania’s Rajabu Maoja in the ninth round to claim the vacant WBO Oriental featherweight crown before a wildly-cheering hometown crowd in Zamboanga City. In July last year, he was stopped by Lorenzo Villanueva to lose the WBO Oriental title in his second defense in Midsayap. Canoy hasn’t fought since the defeat and is now working full-time with amateur and professional fighters in Fabian’s Blue Stallion stable. One of his protégés is hard-hitting lightflyweight Joel (Kid) Vintual who knocked out Sibugay’s Brobro Lanquido with a single body shot at 2:41 in the third round in Zamboanga City last Oct. 10.

“I never thought I would win a professional international title,” said Canoy. “But Congressman Fabian gave me a chance. My biggest purse as a pro was P100,000 and I used it to pay for repairs in my parents’ house. Today, I live with my family in the boxing gym where I train fighters in Teachers’ Village. I work in Congressman Fabian’s office and I help out in his sports projects, like the monthly ‘Golpe-Golpe’ series and ‘palaro’ in darts, billiards, bowling, basketball and others.”

Canoy and his wife now have four children – Marick, 11, Dillinger, 7, Maria Gloria, 3 and Eric, Jr., 2. He earns enough as an employee in Fabian’s office to make both ends meet and his wife no longer works.

“I’ve had a hard life,” said Canoy. “I had no savings from boxing when I left Manila to go back to Zamboanga City. I’m grateful to Congressman Fabian for what he has done to help my family. I was desperate and I didn’t know whom to turn to when I went to him. Whatever I’ve learned and everything I know about boxing, I will teach the Blue Stallion fighters.”

In his new lease on life, Canoy said he will dedicate himself to promote sports as an advocacy, breed champions to bring honor to the country and work to the bone in paying back Fabian for his kindness.