Philippine boxing stalwarts eyed as Olympic medal hopes anew

MANILA, Philippines, June 14 ------ Philippine boxing hasn’t seen the last of Olympic silver medalist Carlo Paalam just yet. Same with Olympic medal winners Nesthy Petecio, Aira Villegas and Eumir Marcial, who, just like Paalam, are hoping to take one last shot at a medal in the 2028 Los Angeles Games. “Yes, all of them are still capable,” Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines president Marcus Manalo told The STAR.

Of the lot, Paalam was the most impressive as evidenced by his golden effort in the Eindhoven Box Cup in the Netherlands where he caught a big fish in 2024 Paris silver winner Billal Bennama of France via a 4-1 split decision win in their semis bantamweight clash. “Carlo just won in the Netherlands,” said Manalo.

As for Petecio, a silver winner in Tokyo and bronze in Paris, she just recently returned after battling some injuries. “We have to see how her progress goes,” he said. Villegas and Marcial, both Olympic bronze winners with the former snaring it in Paris and the latter in Tokyo, came back much earlier and are currently in Baguio and are in excellent shape. All four are in contention of making it to the Asian Games team in Nagoya, Japan this September.

The only worry Manalo is seeing is with Marcial’s conflicting professional schedule. “For Eumir, he’s aiming to be part of the undercard of the Pacquiao-Mayweather card. If that overlaps with the Asian Games schedule, he will have to choose,” he said. Manalo also praised the national team’s effort in its recent European sojourn where it snared a total of four mints, including that one in Eindhoven by Paalam.

Clark Vicera, nephew of 1992 Barcelona veteran Isidro, accounted for the other two flyweight golds in Eindhoven and in the 63rd Belgrade Winner Elite Men’s and Women’s tournament. Riza Pasuit delivered the only other gold in Belgrade. “We’re happy to bring home four gold medals from two high-caliber tournaments. More than the medals, we’re really happy with the performance of our boxers,” said Manalo. “They showed skill and determination in every match, as well as their fighting spirit when things got difficult against really good opponents.” “This is a sign that we’re heading in the right direction as we look forward to the upcoming Asian Games in September,” he added.

Source: philstar.com