THE inactivity caused by the Covid-19 pandemic may have hampered the growth of some of the most promising names from the Cebu-based Big Yellow Boxing Gym a little bit. However, it has never stopped them from striving for greatness and achieving their dreams.

“They are doing okay. My boxers are at the gym, always training. They are always ready,” Big Yellow Boxing Gym head trainer Christopher “Ping-Ping” Tepora told SunStar Cebu.

Although there’s still no go signal for promoting boxing events, Tepora and Big Yellow Promotions head Seth Oliver Tio are planning to stage an event here in Cebu.

“The plan of our manager and promoter is to promote an event once it’s okay already,” said Tepora.

If ever they’ll get the green light from the Games and Amusements Board (GAB), the event will be headlined by Carlo Demecillo along with Clyde Azarcon, Rhonvex Capuloy, Elmer Naason, Maurino Agum and Christopher Caburog.

World ranking

“We plan on building up Carlo. We want him to enter the world rankings so that we’ll have a chance to fight for a world title,” said Tepora. “For now, we still don’t have a target. We plan to look for an opponent that’s willing to fight and push Carlo to the limit so that we’ll be able to gauge where he’s in his career right now.”

In order for Demecillo to break into the world rankings, he should either win a regional belt or beat a fighter that’s world-rated.

Because of the international travel restrictions, Demecillo could opt to fight a world-rated Filipino.

Some of the highly world-ranked Filipino bantamweights that could be possible opponents for him are Michael Dasmarinas (IBF No. 1, WBC No. 13, WBO No. 6), Vincent Astrolabio (WBO No. 10) and Aston Palicte (WBO No. 15).

Other Filipinos that are rated out of the top 20 are Ben Mananquil (WBC No. 32), Giovanni Escaner (WBC No. 35) and Carl Jammes Martin (WBC No. 37).

“We tried to ask for Martin before, but they declined because they had an opponent that they want to fight. I also offered Astrolabio the last time, but he also declined,” said Tepora.

Demecillo is 15-5-1 with eight knockouts. He’s a winner of his last four fights.

The 24-year-old Demecillo got noticed in the boxing world after an impressive performance against now-retired former world title challenger Arthur Villanueva in a majority draw in 2018. (EKA)