OLYMPIC BOXING HOPEFULS RETURN FROM A REWARDING TRAINING TRIP IN THE U.S.
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 13 Mar 2016
By all accounts the ABAP Olympic boxing hopefuls who are scheduled to return on Tuesday benefited from what delegation head and executive director Ed Picson said was ?definitely a rewarding trip.?
The roster of 15 boxers which included three females trained at the gym of ?Dodong? Donaire, father/trainer of five division world champion Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire in Oakland, California, the University of San Francisco Gym and the Top Rank and Fight Club Gyms in Las Vegas over a three week period.
Picson told The Standard that ?the boxers are peaking at the right time? as they prepare for the Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Qan? An, China from March 23 to April 3.
Although some boxers were hit by episodes of coughs and colds because it was really cold especially in Las Vegas, it didn?t stop them from training.
Nonito Donaire helped his trainer/father in giving the boxers some drills and kept urging the boxers on while training.
Picson said it was ?really very productive? as Nonito gave the fighters a motivational/inspirational talk which was set to last 10 minutes but went on for over 30 minutes ?because Nonito spoke from the heart.?
He told the boxers ?there is nothing you cannot do if you put your heart into it. You have to believe in yourself because if you don?t, who else will.?
The consensus after the workouts and sparring sessions in the gyms was that welterweight Eumir Felix Marcial was the most impressive. He showed a lot of determination and all around boxing skills and punching power.
Picson told us from Oakland to Los Angeles and even Las Vegas, Marcial ?really stood out. Everyone was all praises including Top Rank?s veteran Lee Samuels who saw Marcial on the heavy bag and kept asking ?who?s that guy. Is that your star?? But Picson made it clear there were no stars on the team on determined, talented and hard-working boxers although the overwhelming consensus was that Marcial ?is the Philippines best prospect.?
While sparring against three tough opponents at ?Dodong? Donaire?s boxing and fitness gym in Oakland, Marcial dropped his first two sparring partners in the first round and even though he wasn?t able to drop the third, extremely strong and resilient opponent, he punished him badly.
Picson allayed fears of the Asia-Oceania qualifying tournament in Qan? An from March 23 to April 3 being too close to the boxers return from the US on March 15 pointing out that they will leave for China on the 23 rd and the first fights will probably take place on the 25th or the 26th, depending on the draw.
ABAP president Ricky Vargas said the training camp was ?just the initial phase in our preparations for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. We want to give our boxers the best opportunities to qualify and if they do we have even bigger plans for their Olympic medal quest.
After the Philippine Sports Commission and the POC turned down a request for P3 million to fund the trip, the MVP Sports Foundation bankrolled the training stint.
Photo: Donaire (L) gives inspirational talk to the ABAP boxers at the Top Rank gym in Las Vegas.
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