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Boxing draw crucial factor for Tañamor
Written by Staff   
Friday, 08 August 2008 11:44

National boxing coach Pat Gaspi got little sleep Thursday night thinking about a thousand and one things for his prized ward Harry Tañamor.

His main worry is this Friday afternoon’s crucial draw for the light flyweight matches, one that would basically define Tañamor’s medal fortunes in these Games of the 29th Olympiad.

“I know I shouldn’t be splitting my hair thinking about the draw,” said Gaspi in Filipino. “But we are praying for a bit of luck. We don’t want Harry to face the higher-rated entries like the Chinese and the Russian this early.”

Gaspi was referring to world championship gold medalist Zou Shiming and Russia’s world No. 1 David Aryapetyan, the top two bidders in Tanamor’s crowded weight class.

Famous for his kung fu-style footwork, the Chinese made the Filipino a sitting duck for his lunging right punches at last year’s world meet in Chicago.

The draw’s best result, of course, is for a first-round bye, but Tañamor’s handlers, including Cuban coach Enrique Steyner Tissert, prefer not to bank on landing any of the opening day’s three byes. If he fights in the first round, the Zamboanga pug will climb the ring on Aug. 13.

In all, 28 other fighters are in Tañamor’s division, including nine whom he has beaten in the past. And of the 19, Aryapetyan—already the winner of four international titles this year—and American dark horse Luis Yanez are the most enigmatic.

The 29-year-old Tañamor, the country’s only boxing hope, has not fought Aryapetyan, a slugger with a reputedly deadly combination punches who campaigns most of the time in Europe and the Americas.

Yanez is a completely unknown factor, said national amateur boxing chief Manny Lopez.

Gaspi and Tissert said Tañamor loosened up in a light sparring with the Sri Lankan entry early Thursday night so they could at least approximate the conditions during the preliminary matches.

“OK lang si Harry, he is ready for his first fight and knows what to expect in this level,” said Gaspi.

Boxing’s light flyweight class has been the Philippines’ most bankable source of medals in the previous five Olympics. Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco landed a silver in the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta while Velasco’s older brother Roel and Leopoldo Serrantes snatched a bronze each in 1992 in Barcelona and 1988 in Seoul, respectively.
 
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