Could that elusive Olympic gold medal finally be won for the Philippines in Tokyo in 2020?
Given a chance, professional boxers Mark Anthony Barriga and Jerwin Ancajas would like to take a crack at winning the country's first-ever Olympic gold.
Barriga, who is now competing as a strawweight in the punch-for-pay ranks and is so far undefeated in eight professional fights, represented the Philippines in the 2012 London Olympics. He won his first bout against Italy's Manuel Cappai in the round of 32 but lost a controversial 16-17 decision to Birzhan Zhakypov of Kazakhstan in the round of 16 to bow out. He went on to represent the country in the 2013 Southeast Asian Games, where he won gold, and the 2014 Asian Games, where he pocketed a silver medal, before turning pro in 2016.
That bitter ending in London has left Barriga wondering what could have been, and he's made it clear he will answer the call if the Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (ABAP) taps him for Tokyo 2020.
"If given a chance, then why not? If ABAP agrees, then we will compete," Barriga said at the press launch of Survival Instinct, an 11-bout card that he will headline on May 13. "It's always been one of my goals, to win an Olympic gold medal. Although I already fought in the Olympics before, if there's a chance to go again, I'd do it."
Amateur boxing, Barriga noted, isn't that different anymore from professional boxing, at least in terms of rules.
"The styles (of pro boxing and Olympics) aren't that different anymore. In the Olympics they already use the 10-must scoring system, and there's no headgear anymore. They've based it on professional rules. If you remember the World Series of Boxing, I competed there. It was semi-professional, with five rounds or six rounds."
If there's one thing that still sets amateur and professional boxing apart, Barriga said, it's the length of the fights. This is something he has had to address ever since he turned pro, and continues to work on with Coach Joven Jimenez of Survival Camp.
"There's a big difference especially with regard to power and stamina," said the 24-year-old. "In the amateurs it was three rounds of three minutes each, and that was already tiring. So Coach Joven is helping me build up my stamina for four-rounders and six-rounders."
Barriga's pro record of 8 wins and no defeats but just one knockout seems to suggest he also needs to work on his power.
"In the amateurs, it's all about speed and piling up the points. In the pros, there's more emphasis on power and you can't go full speed every round. Some rounds you have to just jab, otherwise you'll get tired. And the punches sting more."
Barriga will face Mexican Gabriel Mendoza in the main event of Survival Instinct, which will be held at the SM North EDSA Skydome, in an International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight world title eliminator.
"He's a good boxer," Barriga said of his foe. "If you look at his record he has 29 wins. He's not just any opponent. It will be a difficult fight. But I know I can do it. We didn't waste anything in training."
Ancajas, who is scheduled to defend his IBF super flyweight belt against countryman Jonas Sultan on May 27 in Las Vegas, wasn't able to compete internationally for the Philippines as an amateur, but with pros now allowed in the Olympics, he feels this could be his big chance if he is tapped by ABAP.
"It would be an honor to represent the country in the Olympics," Ancajas said. "When I was still an amateur, making it to the Olympics was one of my goals. My friend Charley Suarez made it. If given a chance, I will really fight for the country in the Olympics."
In the 2016 Rio Olympics, three professional fighters - Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand, Italian Carmine Tommasone of Italy, and Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam of Cameroon - saw action but none of them won more than once.
However, boxing's status in the 2020 Olympics is still up in the air after the International Olympic Committee expressed its concern over the corruption allegations hounding the AIBA. The Tokyo Games are still over two years away, though, and nothing has been decided on yet.
Survival Instinct will also feature the comeback fight of once-promising Marvin Sonsona, who has been out of action for three years. Sonsona will face Indonesia's Arief Blader in an eight-rounder at 136 pounds. Also seeing action will be former world title challenger AJ "Bazooka" Banal, who will take on Master Sura of Indonesia in the supporting main event at 126 pounds.
"I'm very happy to be back and to be with Team Joven," Sonsona said. "I was gone for three years and I'm going to give my 100% on May 13."
The fights will be shown live in ESPN5 starting at 3:00PM. Coverage shifts to Aksyon TV once the PBA games start at 4:30, before reverting back to ESPN5 for the two main events after the PBA is done. But before that, ESPN5 will show live the much-awaited world lightweight title fight between Jorge Linares and Vasyl Lomachenko.
"I don't think we have ever seen a day like this in local television, where we have wall-to-wall boxing from morning until the evening," said 5 president Chot Reyes. "We have Linares-Lomachenko in the morning, including four of the undercards. Then we go to Survival Instinct up to the fight of Sonsona. Then we break for the PBA. While the PBA is playing, we will show the other fights on AksyonTV. After PBA we go back to TV5 and there we show the Banal and Barriga fights."