The fighting five
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 07 Jun 2024
You can’t say enough about the fighting heart of the five Philippine boxers who qualified for the Paris Olympics. Lightheavyweight Eumir Marcial was first to book a ticket by making it to the final of the Asian Games in Hangzhou last October. Then, lightflyweight Aira Villegas and featherweight Nesthy Petecio got their passes at the first World Qualifying Tournament in Busto Arsizio, Italy last March. Finally, featherweight Carlo Paalam and middleweight Hergie Bacyadan secured their entry at the second World Qualifying Tournament in Bangkok last week.
Marcial, Paalam and Petecio competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with each landing a podium finish. Paalam and Petecio were a win short of a gold while Marcial claimed a bronze. They could’ve rested on their laurels and just enjoyed the lavish incentives as Olympic medalists but resisted the temptation to work even harder for a second Olympic trip. In Paris, Marcial and Paalam are moving up in weight because their divisions in Tokyo have been scrapped. Marcial fought in the middleweight (75kg) class in Tokyo and is now in the lightheavyweight (80kg) division. Paalam was a flyweight (52kg) in Tokyo and will battle as a featherweight (57kg) in Paris. Petecio is a constant at featherweight (57kg).
Villegas will fight as a lightflyweight (50kg) and Bacyadan as a middleweight (75kg) in Paris. When Villegas bagged a bronze at the 2019 SEA Games, she was a bantamweight (54kg) so the drop in weight is significant. Villegas, 28, was a long-shot for Paris. She was eliminated in the preliminaries at the Asian Games last year but swept her three assignments at the Boxam International Tournament in Spain last February then won three in a row at the first World Olympic Qualifiers to nail a slot to Paris.
Bacyadan, 29, was even a longer shot. She traversed from wushu to boxing to vovinam and back to boxing for a chance to make it to Paris. Bacyadan, who idolizes Canelo Alvarez, never took a medal at the SEA or Asian Games but surprisingly, barged into the Asian Boxing Confederation semis in Amman in 2022. She rejoined the ABAP squad for tournaments in Australia and Spain this year. Bacyadan was bundled out in the prelims at the first World Olympic Qualifiers but proved her worth by winning three straight for a Paris ticket at the second World Olympic Qualifiers.
Petecio, 32, is a former world champion with two SEA Games golds in her collection. Like Paalam, she took a silver at the Tokyo Olympics and vowed to return to the Games for another shot at the gold. Petecio nearly ended her boxing career over a personal issue before 2019 but kept faith in God to pursue her journey to the top. Paalam, 25, was a scavenger as a boy and took to boxing as a way out of poverty at the age of seven in Cagayan de Oro. He was recruited by coach Elmer Pamisa to train with Gov. Oscar Moreno’s pool of youth athletes and in Paris, they’ll be together in going for gold.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Joaquin Henson.
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