SEVEN years after quitting the national team, interim World Boxing Association featherweight champion Jhack Tepora—the country’s latest world champion in boxing—is willing to don the national team’s colors again to end that elusive search for the country’s first Olympic gold medal.
The closest the Philippines got to a gold medal in boxing was back in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, when Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco was robbed of a victory against Bulgarian Daniel Petrov in the light flyweight finals. Velasco dominated the fight but still lost, 19-6, to Petrov in what was later on dubbed as the “Robbery in Atlanta.”
Tepora hopes that he’ll end that drought and is willing to join the qualifiers and compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“Yes, I want to compete. Maybe, God willing I’ll win a gold for the Philippines in the Olympics,” Tepora told SunStar Cebu.
Pro boxers are now allowed to compete in the Olympics starting in 2016. Another rule change is that there’s no head gear anymore.
“Pro Pinoy fighters have a huge chance in the Olympics. They are used to the pain and the fights are only three rounds. They have a huge chance of success,” he said.
The Philippines has not yet fielded a pro boxer in the Olympics, Asian Games or Southeast Asian Games.
However, pro boxers who competed in the recent 2016 Rio Olympics didn’t have much success. A perfect example is former world champion Amnat Ruenroeng, who was stopped in the third round in Rio.
But Tepora is no Ruenroeng. The 23-year-old sports a 22-0 pro record with 17 knockouts and is no stranger to the system of the national team. He started boxing at eight years old and made it to the Philippine national team at age 15 in 2010. He trained under Romeo Brin and Sonny Dollente and represented the country, as a junior, in invitational tournaments in Hong Kong and Pakistan.
“Maybe if I didn’t quit the national team, I would have been in the Asian Games,” he said.
The Philippines failed to win a single gold medal in boxing for the second straight Asian Games. (EKA)