6-foot Filipino Welterweight to Turn Pro 2009
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 21 Nov 2008
A 6-foot tall welterweight who is now a member of the Philippine national amateur boxing team is set to turn professional January next year.
Willy "The Orphan" Lopez, 21, who failed in his bid to join the Philippine Olympic Boxing Team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics following his loss in Chicago last year, will be returning back to his former boxing club, the Braveheart Boxing Club of North Cotabato, after two more amateur tournaments -- one in Guam this month and the National Youth and Open Boxing Championships in Bacolod City in December.
Perhaps the tallest Filipino boxer ever, Lopez will be trained as a professional by Nonito Donaire, Sr., estranged father of world flyweight champion Nonito Donaire, Jr., and will be based in Cebu City where Nonito Sr. has set up a boxing gym.
Lopez, born to an Ilocano couple who migrated from Luzon and settled in Saranggani Province in the Island of Mindanao, was orphaned at age 17 and presented himself to me in 2004 when I was still the Governor of North Cotabato.
He was taken in as part of the North Cotabato amateur boxing team then handled by Cuban coach Honorato Espinosa who stayed in the Philippines for 18 months.
In 2006, following an impressive showing in the National Open where he won the silver yielding only to the veteran Olympian Romeo Brin in the finals, Lopez was recruited by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines as member of the national team.
His performance an an amateur has been lackluster owing mainly to the questionable boxer development approach of ABAP trainers where they pit young and upcoming boxers against veterans like Bri.
Lopez expressed his desire to turn professional after failing in his Olympic bid and when I contacted him by phone Friday.
Donaire Sr. has expressed excitement over the prospect of training a legitimate welterweight who is a natural-born Filipino.
Lopez will be the first boxer that the older Donaire will handle since parting ways with his son, the world flyweight champion earlier this month.
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