The fighting five

You can’t say enough about the fighting heart of the five Philippine boxers who qualified for the Paris Olympics. Lightheavyweight Eumir Marcial was first to book a ticket by making it to the final of the Asian Games in Hangzhou last October. Then, lightflyweight Aira Villegas and featherweight Nesthy Petecio got their passes at the first World Qualifying Tournament in Busto Arsizio, Italy last March. Finally, featherweight Carlo Paalam and middleweight Hergie Bacyadan secured their entry at the second World Qualifying Tournament in Bangkok last week.

Marcial, Paalam and Petecio competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with each landing a podium finish. Paalam and Petecio were a win short of a gold while Marcial claimed a bronze. They could’ve rested on their laurels and just enjoyed the lavish incentives as Olympic medalists but resisted the temptation to work even harder for a second Olympic trip. In Paris, Marcial and Paalam are moving up in weight because their divisions in Tokyo have been scrapped. Marcial fought in the middleweight (75kg) class in Tokyo and is now in the lightheavyweight (80kg) division. Paalam was a flyweight (52kg) in Tokyo and will battle as a featherweight (57kg) in Paris. Petecio is a constant at featherweight (57kg).

Villegas will fight as a lightflyweight (50kg) and Bacyadan as a middleweight (75kg) in Paris. When Villegas bagged a bronze at the 2019 SEA Games, she was a bantamweight (54kg) so the drop in weight is significant. Villegas, 28, was a long-shot for Paris. She was eliminated in the preliminaries at the Asian Games last year but swept her three assignments at the Boxam International Tournament in Spain last February then won three in a row at the first World Olympic Qualifiers to nail a slot to Paris.

Bacyadan, 29, was even a longer shot. She traversed from wushu to boxing to vovinam and back to boxing for a chance to make it to Paris. Bacyadan, who idolizes Canelo Alvarez, never took a medal at the SEA or Asian Games but surprisingly, barged into the Asian Boxing Confederation semis in Amman in 2022. She rejoined the ABAP squad for tournaments in Australia and Spain this year. Bacyadan was bundled out in the prelims at the