No less than gold for ‘big little men’

BUSAN — Harry Tanamor and Violito Payla have a lot of things in common: they both grew up in the province, learned to box at an early age, were firm in joining the Philippine Army, and are both first-timers in the Asian Games.

But the greatest similarity between the two boxers, fondly called as the " big little men" of Team Caltex, is their burning desire to whip the opposition and win the gold — whenever, wherever they compete.

The 14th Asian Games here is no different.

Interviewed on a cold Saturday morning after a relatively easy two-hour road work, Tanamor, a lightfly, and Payla, a flyweight, shared the same intention of helping the Philippines recover from its dismal one-gold performance in the 1998 Bangkok Asiad.

"Para sa bayan kasi kaya pagsisikapan nang husto," said Tanamor, probably the best 48kg fighter the country has ever produced after Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics silver medalist who made it even bigger as a showbiz personality.

"Ang alam kasi namin ay isa lang ang nakuha natin na ginto noong 1998. Hindi pa sa boxing kaya siskapin namin talaga ngayon," said Payla, fighting at 51 kgs but packing a punch much heavier than his weight.

Tanamor, of Zamboanga, and Payla, of Cagayan de Oro, are just two of the eight members of Team Caltex seeing action here in Busan from Oct. 2 unitl the finals on the 13th.

But they are considered the strongest medal hopes although the rest, including Sydney Olympian Romeo Brin, 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games bronze medalist Anthony Igusquiza and Fil-American Chris Camat, all have equal chances of winning.

"We did not send anybody here who does not have a chance of winning," said RP amateur boxing president Manny Lopez, fully confident that the boxers, under coaches Gregorio Caliwan, Nolito Velasco and Patricio Gaspi, can live up to expectations.

The other members of the team are Roel Laguna, Maraon Golez and Ferdie Gamo.

"Lahat nga ‘yan may pag-asa," said Caliwan, who opted to stay behind and wait for Tanamor and Payla to finish the short interview before they head back to the RP quarters inside the athletes’ village.

"Pero di ba maliliit ang malakas maka-puwing?" said Caliwan, a burly master sergeant with the Philippine Army, as he towed Tanamor and Payla in.