INQUIRER Sports

OLYMPIAN HARRY TAÑAMOR WAS squeezed in as a last-minute entry, a substitute to another Asian boxing standout.

Nothing truly new there, it could happen any day.

?China is hosting the 2010 Asian Champion of Champions tournament, with four entries in each category?48, 47, 75, 81 kg.,? reported Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (Abap) secretary general Patrick Gregorio over the weekend.

Gregorio said the event would also serve as a dry run for this year?s Asian Games, which China is also hosting.

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Tañamor, who could barely prepare, had for his opening-day foe China?s Zou Shiming, winner of the light flyweight gold in the last Beijing Olympiad.

Poor Tañamor lost, 3-11.

But it?s not as simple as that.

It was too late before local backers of Tañamor, a failure in the Athens and Beijing Olympics, realized it was all a joke.

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Explained Ed Picson, Abap executive director, from ringside: ?Zou has grown bigger. He came in at 51 kg. They also changed the category to flyweight.?

How could that have been possible?

?The rule pala here is there?s a three-kilogram allowance for every boxer,? Picson bared. ?So it was just OK for Zou.?

Yes, but definitely not for Tañamor.

Try hard as he obviously did, all the poor fellow could put on was a measly one kg overnight.

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Continued Picson: ?Zou threw power combinations, while Harry had single shots. The Chinese was fast and accurate. Harry put up a good fight, but was outwitted and outfought, 11-3, with the Chinese crowd going wild.?

The organizers, Picson said, were staging a good show, despite the sub-zero conditions outside.

Well Picson was too kind and humble to harbor suspicions.

But it was also possible Tañamor had been handpicked at the last-minute to feed the win-win appetite of the Chinese crowd.

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Earlier informed that he might be invited to the tournament, organizers had to wait until the last minute before confirming that Tañamor was on.

Worse, there was no info whatsoever about the 3-kg allowance before Tañamor could hurriedly pack up for the tournament.

As a result, the comebacking Zou (he retired after the Beijing Olympics) took great advantage of the hefty three-kilo allowance and dominated to the roaring delight of the Chinese crowd.

?No complaints, we really lost,? Picson said

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Explained Abap sec-gen Gregorio: ?The Chinese Olympic gold medalist was really superb. We really have to identify new talents in the 48 kg. The Abap is focused on that. The more important reason why Ed and I are here is to meet with our Asian?specifically Chinese?counterparts, as stronger boxing diplomacy must be pursued.?

Tañamor, as reported from ringside, fought better than he did when he dropped his first bout in the Laos Southeast Asian Games last December.

This could only mean that the Abap has not all these past years been nursing a certified junk.

But what should next be made clear is if Tañamor will remain the Abap standard for aspirants in the 48 kg. class

It may no longer be as simple as that.