RP pugs gearing up for London

BAGUIO CITY — Delfin Boholst is training for the Olympics–the London Olympics.

The former rice farmer from the Philippines failed to win a boxing slot for this year’s Beijing Games in a final qualifying tournament in Kazakhstan and now punishes himself with grueling four-hour workouts, six days a week, in the hope of redemption in 2012.

"After Kazakhstan, my morale sank to the very bottom of the sea," Boholst said during a break after three rounds in the ring at the national training camp in Baguio, a mountain resort city north of Manila.

"I wanted to bury my head somewhere. But, fortunately, we did not have time to sulk and lick our wounds. We were immediately sent back to training as soon as we unpacked our bags," said the 23-year-old light welterweight (64 kg).

The Philippines’ reputation as a regional boxing powerhouse has been battered by its dismal performance in the qualifying rounds for Beijing.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, only one boxer, light flyweight Harry Tanamor, will represent the Philippines in the Games, compared to the usual turnout of around five.

The sport’s difficulties are rooted in the country’s sluggish economic performance. While fast-growing neighbors such as China, Thailand and India poured funding into the ring, the Philippines, mired in debt, has retrenched.

"Our boxing standard stayed almost stagnant for so long and allowed our neighbors in Asia to catch up and even overtake us. Look at China and India, they are now dominating the field. We used to make them our punching bags, now they humiliate us," said Roel Velasco, one of the Philippines coaches.

Boxers in the national training pool get a daily food allowance of P350 ($8.33) and a living allowance of not more than P8,000 a month.

Velasco, who won a bronze medal in the light flyweight division in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, said that was what he was getting in the 1990s.

"How would you expect our boxers to fight better? They could not always fight with their hearts, they need something in their stomachs, too," he said.

Since its first Summer Games in 1924, the Philippines has won two silver and three bronze medals in boxing, its most successful Olympic sport, and desperately want a first gold.

It could be a long time coming.

The Philippines won its last Olympic medal in Atlanta in 1996 courtesy of Mansueto Velasco of the Philippine Navy, who lost to a Bulgarian in the final of boxing’s light flyweight (48 kg) division.

Ronald Chavez, another former Olympic boxer on the coaching staff, said the country is losing some of its brightest talent to professional promoters, who offer fast cash and instant fame.

In a country where nearly half the population live on $2 or less a day, boxing has become an easy and popular ticket out of poverty.