ABAP regroups after Liverpool bust

The Philippines notched four straight wins then dropped six in a row to bow out without a podium finish at the recent World Boxing Championships in Liverpool. No fighter made it beyond the Round of 16, sending alarm signals that ABAP needs to regroup if it hopes to make waves at the coming SEA Games in Bangkok and Asian Games in Nagoya next year. The long-term goal is to qualify medal hopefuls for the 2028 LA Olympics where ABAP chairman Ricky Vargas is the Philippines’ chef de mission.

ABAP secretary-general Marcus Manalo said despite failing to bag a medal in Liverpool, there is hope for the future. “This was a young team with four first-timers at the World Championships,” he said. “We had high hopes for Carlo Paalam (55kg) and Jay Bryan Baricuatro (50kg) who suffered tough losses. Carlo was hampered by a bad cut and Baricuatro lost a tight 3-2 decision. Carlo expressed it was great to be back in the ring and Baricuatro learned important lessons for sure, along with the other boxers.”

Paalam, a 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medalist, won his first outing over Chinese-Taipei’s Hsu Chiao Chun via a unanimous decision but lost his next assignment to Dominican Republic’s Junior Alcantara on a 4-1 technical split verdict. Paalam sustained a nasty gash on his right eyebrow from an accidental headbutt at the start of the third round and the bout was stopped, prompting the referee to go to the scorecards. Baricuatro dropped a 3-2 scoreline to Spain’s Martin Molina Salvador. “Baricuatro took the first round, 5-0 but stayed on the ropes too much in the second and ran out of gas in the third although he landed the clearer punches,” recounted Manalo. “It could’ve gone either way.”

Ronald Chavez (70kg) booked a 3-2 win over Ireland’s Matthew McCole then was beaten by France’s Makan Traore on a 5-0 verdict. Riza Pasuit (Women’s 60kg) stopped Saudi Arabia’s Ragad Alnaimi in the second frame but lost to Brazil’s Rebecca Santos on a 5-0 decision in her next outing. Junmilardo Ogayre (60kg) outpointed Chinese-Taipei’s Lai Chu En then capitulated on a 5-0 decision to Kazakhstan’s Biibars Zhexen. Mark Ashley Fajardo (65kg) was blanked by Ukraine’s Elvin Alliev, 5-0, visibly bothered by a left hand injury he sustained at the Asian U22 Championships in Thailand the previous month.

“We had a long reflection session as a team and we were able to come up with action plans when we return to training,” said Manalo. “Among these are about the connection between boxers and coaches, some tweaks in training to attain strong finishes in the last round, timing and quantity of competition sparring necessary, improvement of defensive stance and tactical adjustments within the bout.”