The Boys of Summer
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 21 Jun 2011
On July 2, in faraway Mexico, a brown-haired young fighter from my hometown M'lang, North Cotabato will challenge World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight champion Hernan "Tyson" Marquez.
Edrin Dapudong, 24, who joined the amateur boxing program as started when I was governor of North Cotabato when he was only 13, will try to win the province's first ever world boxing title.
He will actually be the second boxer produced by that grassroots boxing program to fight for a world title. The first boy, 21-year-old Rommel Asenjo of Pigcawayan town, failed in his bid against the veteran Raul "Rayito" Garcia.
In my first summer as governor of North Cotabato in 1998, I started "Paboksing Para sa Masa" aimed at discovering young boxing talents for our amateur boxing team.
My younger brothers, Noli and Socrates, and several former amateur boxers who worked as talent scouts handled the program.
Two boxing rings, which could easily be dismantled, were built and boxing equipment were bought to stage open boxing tournaments during village fiestas.
Boys, who wore the gloves for the first time, went up the ring to trade punches with each other, the winner receiving P100 while the loser P50. They came barefoot and sunburned and threw wild punches which delighted the crowd.
The purpose really was just to scout for young prospects who could further be trained. Those who showed potentials were identified and the talent scouts asked the parents to allow their sons to be moved to a school in front of the provincial capitol where they will be sports scholars while undergoing boxing training during their free time.
There was an almost endless line of volunteers, not only because of the small financial reward but mainly because of the prospect of being able to finish elementary or high school for free.
In a little less than two years, the North Cotabato amateur boxing team was already making a name in national competitions including the National Open.
In 2005, I and my bosom friend and sports columnist Recah Trinidad traveled to Havana, Cuba to recruit a Cuban boxing coach whom I wanted to bring home to North Cotabato to train our local boxing trainers and upgrade their skills.
Honorato Espinosa, who was already in his 60s when he came to North Cotabato, was recommended by the Cuban government. His credentials were impressive. It was Espinosa who trained the Cuban boxer who won that country's first boxing gold ever in the Olympics in 1972 in Munich.
Espinosa stayed for 18 months in the Philippines and succeeded in improving the training technique of our local trainers enabling us to develop boxers like Dapudong, Asenjo, Oriental featherweight champion Lorenzo Villanueva who holds an impressive record of 20 2 wins and 19 knockouts, Philippine bantamweight champion Glenn Porras and a long list of young prospects.
Young Edrin has a very good chance of winning against Marquez even with just a two-weeks notice. In his entire boxing career, he has never suffered a blackeye or a welt, never been cut and never been knocked down or even seriously hurt.
If he wins North Cotabato's first boxing world title, it would be a testament to a successful local government unit initiated sports program that could be replicated elsewhere in the country.
More than that, it will prove that a focused youth sports program could change the lives of the Boys of Summer who would have otherwise spent the hot months diving into the wide rivers of the province or lay idly under an old mango tree dreaming of a better life.
Photo: Dapudong (L) against Effendi.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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