Since Onyok Velasco and Elias Recaido made it to the quarterfinals of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, no Filipino fighter has advanced as far as the round-of-8 in the Summer Games.
Beijing was no exception as lightflyweight boxer Harry Ta?amor was unceremoniously struck out of contention in the preliminary round-of-32 last Wednesday. Worse, Manyo Plange ? the Ghanaian contender who eliminated Ta?amor ? didn?t even survive the next round-of-16, losing a 21-12 blowout to Brazil?s Paulo Carvalho. Ta?amor couldn?t have lost to a less worthy opponent.
In Olympic history, the Philippines has posted a 42-72 overall record. Filipino fighters failed to win a single bout in four Olympic shutouts ? in 1956, 1960, 1972 and now, 2008. A single victory was registered in 1952, 1968 and 2000.
In Athens four years ago, the four Filipino qualifiers chalked up a 2-4 mark, a slight improvement from Sydney?s 1-4 slate. But it was hardly a consolation as the two winners were badly beaten in their second outings. Ta?amor, in his Olympic debut, wound up losing a 17-12 verdict to Tajikistan?s Sherali Dostiev and lightwelterweight Romeo Brin was steamrollered, 29-15, by Thailand?s Manus Boonjumnong in the second preliminaries.
The biggest Filipino boxing contingents were the six who wore the national colors in 1964, 1968 and 1992. The Philippines sent five-man teams in 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1968 and 1996.
Ta?amor?s lonely campaign in Beijing duplicated flyweight Segundo Macalalad?s appearance at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Macalalad was the only boxer in the Philippines? delegation and bowed out in his first fight ? like Ta?amor this year ? to Botta of Argentina via a 4-1 decision.
The most number of wins the Philippines scored in boxing was nine at the 1992 Games with Roel Velasco notching three on the way to a bronze medal, bantamweight Roberto Jalnaiz two, lightweight Ronald Chavez two and flyweight Isidro Vicera and lightwelterweight Arlo Chavez one each.
In 1952, the Olympics introduced the two bronze medal system in boxing where losing semifinalists were awarded a bronze apiece, avoiding a box-off. Since then, six Filipinos came within a win of bagging a bronze ? Rodolfo Arpon in 1964, Reynaldo Fortaleza in 1976, Leopoldo Cantancio in 1964, Jalnaiz and Ronald Chavez in 1992 and Recaido in 1996. Two other hard-luck Filipinos who advanced to the quarterfinals but failed to make it to the semifinals were Jose Padilla Jr. and Simplicio de Castro in 1936.
Still, boxing has delivered the most medals to the Philippines? Olympic treasure chest. Of the country?s nine all-time Olympic medals, boxing contributed five ? two silvers (Anthony Villanueva in 1964 and Onyok Velasco in 1996) and three bronzes (Cely Villanueva in 1936, Leopoldo Serrantes in 1988 and Roel Velasco in 1992).
Stan Greenberg, in his book Olympic Almanac, confirmed that the only known father and son boxing medalists ever were Cely Villanueva and his son Anthony. Greenberg also noted that before Beijing, the Philippines was ranked third behind Nigeria and Puerto Rico in the category of most boxing medals without a gold. Australia tied the Philippines in third place.
Although boxing has brought pride to the Filipino homeland in the past, the sport now appears to be allergic to Pinoys at least in the Olympics. In Beijing, only Ta?amor booked a boxing ticket for the Philippines which has been demoted to the lowly ranks of Sri Lanka, Turkemistan, North Korea and Kyrgyzstan with a single qualifier each.
In contrast, 10 other Asian countries sent multiple entries ? host China with 10, Kazakhstan 10, Thailand eight, Uzbekistan seven, India and South Korea five each, Mongolia four, Iran and Tajikistan three each and Japan two.
It wasn?t for lack of funds that the Philippines couldn?t produce more than just Ta?amor to qualify. In the 2006 Asian Games, two Filipino boxers claimed gold medals and Ta?amor wasn?t one of them. Yet the Philippines could qualify only Ta?amor for Beijing.
Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez moved heaven and earth to sign up Cuban coaches for the Philippine squad this year. With support from Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Butch Ramirez, Lopez brought back not one, but two coaches from Havana ? Enrique Steyners and Dagoberto Rojas. However, not even the Cubans could turn the country?s boxing fortunes around on the road to Beijing. Perhaps, they arrived too late to make a difference. Preparing for the Olympics, after all, isn?t a short-term proposition.
Ta?amor?s painful loss only accentuated the glaring inadequacies of the ABAP program ? poor scouting (Ta?amor was clueless as to Plange?s fighting style), lack of a scientific approach in conditioning (Ta?amor struggled to make the 48-kilogram limit in Beijing), dearth of prospects (Ta?amor wasn?t only recycled but also forced to stay in the same Olympic division as four years ago, defying Mother Nature) and inability to execute a winning strategy (Ta?amor foolishly hoped to score points with body punches against Plange).
So if boxing has been unkind to the Philippines in the last 12 years, the sport is hardly to blame.
