Kidapawan City - A grassroots boxing program started in 1998 in the Province of North Cotabato has transformed this agricultural province in Central Mindanao into a virtual gold mine for outstanding professional boxers.
The program called "Paboksing Para sa Masa" (Boxing for the Masses), has already produced seven top professional fighters, one of whom is already in the United States signed up by Bob Arum's Top Rank Promotions.
Started by then Governor Manny Pinol (now Vice Governor of the Province), the program involved the conduct of amateur boxing competitions during village and town fiestas where barefoot kids are allowed to trade punches for three rounds with the winner receiving P100 (roughly $2.25) and the loser P50.
The winner also enjoys the benefit of a free high school education should he be recruited by a team of scouts led by Vice Gov. Pinol's brothers, Noli who is a boxing trainer, and Socrates, now a board member, along with Dante Lerio, brother of Olympians Arlan and Danilo.
In 2003, in an effort to improve the level of competency among local boxing trainers, then Governor Pinol made a trip to Havana, Cuba along with his friend, Recah Trinidad, the Inquirer sports columnist, and recruited a Cuban boxing coach, Honorato Espinosa, 65, who holds the honor of having produced the world boxing power's first Olympic gold in Munich.
Espinosa stayed in the country for 18 months and conducted boxing clinics for local trainers not only in North Cotabato but also in other provinces in the country, including Bohol.
The Cuban coach's influence is shown today by the good boxing postures and tremendous body punching skills of the North Cotabato professional boxers.
In the last boxing event held Oct. 19, three of the top professional boxers of North Cotabato disposed of their opponents through vicious body punching.
Top junior featherweight prospect and former national amateur team member Rolando Magbanua, fighting before a hometown crowd in Pigcawayan last Sunday, banged Thai Yothchailek Sithsoei's midsection four times to probe for a chink in his opponent's armor.
As the Thai tried to cover his body, Magbanua saw an opening and unleashed a beautifully executed right uppercut that caught Yotchailek neat on the jaw sending him crashing through the ropes for a full 10 count with barely 1:30 minutes into the first round of a 10 round bout.
Magbanua, 23, called "Smooth Operator", is now 11 wins with 7 knockouts and is being primed for a crack at the Philippine junior featherweight title.
Nineteen-year-old Rommel Asenjo, fondly called "My Little Assassin" by his handlers, had to go through a more rigorous fight against a taller and talented young Thai fighter, Dechailek Sithsoei, taking some good rights as he pursued the foreign boxer with powerful body punches.
Asenjo floored Dechailek with a stunning left to the jaw but the Thai came back using his long reach in tagging the Filipino southpaw before going down to the canvas for good in the 5th round after receiving punishing body blows.
Asenjo, a miniflyweight and a favorite of Cuban coach Espinosa, is now 9 wins with 7 KOs against 2 losses both by decision.
Body punching also helped Glenn "The Rock" Porras, 23, score a first round knockout against Surigao del Sur's Rolando Malinao.
Porras, a southpaw, floored Malinao early in the fight with combinations to the body and the head but the latter came back and pummelled Porras with powerful combinations sending the North Cotabato boxer defending himself in the ropes.
A well-timed left to the midsection caught Malinao in the solar plexus chopping him down. He fell like timber for a full 10 count. Porras is now 18 wins with 14 KOs against 2 losses by decision.
The other outstanding boxers from North Cotabato greatly influenced by the Cuban fighting style are featherweight Glenn "Rapid Fire" Gonzales, 23, (7 wins, 4 KOs, 1 draw), bantamweight Jundy "Pretty Boy" Maraon, 23, originally from Zamboanga del Sur (10 wins, 8 KOs, 1 draw), jr. featherweight Reynaldo "Boy of Steel" Belandres, 23, (9 wins, 7 KOs, 1 draw), featherweight Lorenzo "Thunderbolt" Villanueva, 22, (9 wins, 9 KOs) and jr. flyweight Edrin "The Sting" Dapudong, 23, (12 wins, 6 KOs, 2 losses).
What makes the North Cotabato boxing program exciting is the fact that there are other young professional boxers in the 4-round and 6-round categories who are showing a lot of potentials, including another Cuban coach Espinosa favorte Jermie Jabel, 5' 5" an 18-year-old miniflyweight who has a record of 6 wins with 4 KOs and bantamweight Rey Juntilla, 20, (6 wins 4 KOs).
About 20 more amateur boxers aged 14 to 18 who are all being sent to high school by Vice Governor Pinol are now quartered in his farm in Paco awaiting for the day when they too will try their luck in the pro league.
"They have to go through the virtual eye of the needle," said Vice Gov. Pinol emphasizing that discipline, courage, strength and the willingness to sacrifice are demanded from the young boxers before they are allowed to turn pro.
Those who do not make it to the pro league are encouraged to pursue a college degree under the provincial scholarship program.
"The professionals are now showing their talents, the young amateurs are going to tough crucibles while barefoot boys in the farflung villages are being given the chance to display their potentials," said Vice Gov. Pinol.
With this program, the Vice Governor believes North Cotabato will become a virtual gold mine of future boxing talents who will dominate Philippine boxing in the years to come.
