ABAP losing boxers to pro – Vargas
THE Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) has been losing out its talented amateur boxers to the professional league despite the extra incentive it gives.
ABAP President Ricky Vargas said they have lost a lot of talented boxers throughout the years, as multi-million lucrative contract offers and fame in the professional rank are hard to resist.
“Mar am in aka min gnaw a lang boxer sa pro (We have lost a lot of boxers to the pro),” Vargas lamented. “They (professional boxing) are our competitor for talent. We just have to try to keep them as much as we can.”
Vargas and ABAP Executive Director Ed Picson in the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum virtual news conference on Tuesday said they were “doing all
efforts to keep them.”
Amateur boxers earn only a monthly salary of P10,000 to P40,000 per month from the Philippine Sports Commission, depending on the status of the boxer. ABAP also provides cash incentives to boxers who won a medal in any international competitions.
“We do a lot of grassroots recruitment. But at a certain point of time, they leave ABAP despite the extra incentives that the PLDT and MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan) give them,” said Vargas.
One boxer set to turn professional soon is Olympic- bound men’s middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial.
After spending nine-and-a-half years as an amateur fighter in the ranks of ABAP, Vargas said Marcial would be signing for a professional rank anytime soon “For example, si Eumir matagalna
ito (he’s been with us for so long). He is in ABAP for more than nine-and-ahalf years. He started at 15. Now he’s 24-year-old and magpopronasiya
(he’ll turn pro),” he said.
Vargas said some boxers even younger than 15 have decided to turn pro.
He added the professional rank also targets amateurs once they become good.
“Angmagalinglangkay (The good thing about) Eumir he wanted to be an Olympian, and he wanted to bring home a medal in the Olympics, and that’s why he is still there. Pero‘paggumagaling
‘yung boxer tinatarget nang pro (Once a boxer becomes good, he becomes a target for the pro).”
Besides Marcial, Picson also bared that super bantamweight Mike Plania was an amateur boxer in 2015. Plania defeated American World Boxing Organization (WBO) No. 1 contender Joshua Greer by majority decision last June 17 in Las Vegas.
He also cited former 2012 London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga, who turned pro in 2016. Other boxers who left amateur are ex- WBO minimumweight titleholder Vic Saludar and former Rio Olympian lightweight Charly Suarez, who won a gold in the last Southeast Asian Games in Manila.
Picson said boxers were also businessmen on the lookout for opportunities.
“Professional boxers are on the lookout. Nakikitanamannilana maganda (They see the) training sa amateur, so they grab the smallest opportunity that they can get because they are businessmen,” said Picson. “Style is [also] different, so they decide to [go and] stay in pro.”