Olympians to vie in Liverpool?

Nothing is set in stone but it’s likely that Olympians Carlo Paalam, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas will headline an all-star cast to represent the country at the World Boxing Championships on Sept. 4-14 at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool. The conclave is particularly significant as it’s the first elite-level global competition hosted by World Boxing which awaits final approval from the IOC General Assembly on March 20 to be recognized as the sport’s new international governing body.

ABAP secretary-general Marcus Manalo said Paalam, Petecio and Villegas are expected to be in the lineup for Liverpool but the list has not been finalized. Paalam, 26, took the silver medal in the flyweight division at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and came a win shy of a bronze at the 2023 Paris edition. Petecio, 32, is a two-time Olympic medalist, bagging a silver in Tokyo and bronze in Paris. In 2014, she pocketed a silver in the featherweight class at the World Championships in Jeju City, South Korea and in 2019, struck gold in the same event in Ulan-Ude, Russia. Villegas, 29, brought home a bronze in the lightflyweight category at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

There are 22 elite men and nine women in the ABAP pool so the options aren’t sparse. Fighters will be closely evaluated based on their performance in coming tournaments in Thailand, Germany and Kazakhstan.

For the SEA Games in Bangkok on Dec. 9-20, Manalo said Jay Bryan Baricuatro, Marvin Tabamo, Mark Ashley Fajardo, Ofelia Magno (no relation to Irish) and Riza Pasuit are leading candidates to join the team. He noted that two-time Olympian Eumir Marcial will be tapped to compete if available. Marcial is returning to the pro ranks but may consider trying for a fifth SEA Games gold.

In the previous SEA Games in Cambodia two years ago, boxing delivered four golds, five silvers and a bronze. The gold medalists were Paalam, Ian Clark Bautista, Paul Bascon and Petecio.  Settling for silvers were Rogen Ladon, Norlan Petecio, John Marvin, Irish Magno and Pasuit. The only bronze medalist was Markus Tongco.

The previous World Championships were held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2023. The Philippines declined to participate along with the US, UK, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Switzerland, among others. IBA, which staged the event, had come under fire from IOC and the inclusion of boxers from Russia and Belarus triggered a boycott from several countries.