ALTHOUGH the country’s boxing team is not giving any medal projection for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games, they promised to deliver in front of the home crowd.
Roel Velasco, coach of the Philippine Boxing Team currently training in Baguio City, said the country will be sending 12 boxers in the training pool. Four of them will be competing in the women’s division.
However, Velasco said they have yet to finalize the list of boxers who will be seeing action in the 30th edition of the Games hosted by the country.
“Ayaw naming mag predict kung ilang ginto ang iuuwi ng boxing basta ang sa amin lang gagawin namin yung best naming at mga boxers para maka kuha ng medalya,” said Velasco.
The former Olympic bronze medalist added that as part of their build–up, the team is set to join several competitions outside the country starting this month.
“Marami tayong naka-line up na exposure para sa mga boksingero natin. Magandang training ito para makita natin kung ano pa yung mga dapat na ma-improve,” added Velasco.
During the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia, the Philippines was able to cop two gold medals courtesy of middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial and light heavyweight John Marvin including one silver and two bronze medals behind Thailand's 2-3-1 output.
Marcial recently bagged a victory in the Europe vs. Asia Boxing Tournament at the Prague Hilton earlier this month.
The Zamboanga fighter dropped his foe twice, once in the dying seconds of the first round and then again in the third with a sharp left-right combination that forced referee Tomas Smid of the host country to wave the fight off despite protest from Czech boxer.