ABAP gets ready for battle
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 09 Mar 2025
Six fighters are now in training in Guangzhou, China up to March 14 and 10 will report at another boot camp in Korea on April 7-17 as ABAP gears up for competitions this year starting with the Thailand Open on May 24-June 1 to culminate in the SEA Games on Dec. 9-20.
ABAP secretary-general Marcus Manalo said there are other tournaments in between, including meets in Kazakhstan and Germany with the World Championships on Sept. 4-14 at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool as the main event. It’s been a busy first quarter for ABAP’s pool of 37 composed of 22 elite men, nine women and six junior (15-16 years old) and youth (17-18) with the regimen expected to get tougher. “We hosted a Japanese team in a training camp in Baguio from Feb. 20 to 27 then we sent six boxers to a multi-nation camp in Guangzhou with Uzbekistan, Thailand, Korea and China last March 3,” said Manalo. “Then, we’re sending 10 to Korea for a joint camp.”
Training in China are John Wayne Vicera, 21, Flint Jara, 12, Junmilardo Ogayre, 26, Mervin Lucky Alcober, 22, Mark Ashley Fajardo, 21 and Tyler Tanap, 22. Joining the Korea camp are Fajardo, Marvin Tabamo, 29, Jay Bryan Baricuatro, 20, Ian Clark Bautista, 31, Eljay Pamisa, 21, John Paul Napoles, 20, Brandon Jay Soriano, 20, Marjon Pianar, 26, Ofelia Magno, 21 and Riza Pasuit, 32.
“In China, they’re mostly younger boxers who need more international exposure while in Korea, it will be a mix of experienced and young boxers,” said Manalo. “Fajardo is the only boxer who’s now in China and will be in Korea. We want to give him more exposure internationally because of his high ceiling (5-9) and he’s currently our only boxer at 63.5kg."
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