BEIJING—Boxer Harry Tañamor, who flashed that disturbing winner’s smile upon figuring in the RP contingent’s biggest defeat here, did weep once inside the dugout, but obviously only upon realizing that he too had fallen victim to a blind, impotent national amateur boxing system.

A loser in the Athens Olympics, the recycled Tañamor—like Romeo Brin who had to return and lose in three straight Olympiads—was predictably a sitting duck against his Ghanian foe who used the built-in edge of having known the style, weakness and capabilities of the lone Filipino boxing bet well ahead of their bout.

For the record, Tañamor had inexplicably claimed that he would be figuring strong in his second straight Olympics because he already knew his would-be opponents better.

Unfortunately, there was no assurance he would be fighting here any of the boxers he had met previously in other foreign tournaments.

It was therefore out of pure concern—both for Tañamor and the countless fans, not to mention generous sponsors like Smart—that this reporter had begged for prayers for Tañamor in the run-up to his second straight bid in the Olympics.

The reason was simple: one click of the computer key and, voila, his foreign foes could readily avail of Tañamor’s past fights.

If to an examination, Tañamor’s future foes would be provided solutions to the problems, the answers to the questions, well ahead of the big test.

Maybe this need not be told but, as a result, this reporter was lambasted by the head of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippine (ABAP) who claimed that the request for prayers was our way of insulting and demeaning Tañamor.

As fate would have it, Tañamor drew a fighter whom he had never fought before.

He was therefore completely in the dark as far as the Ghanian light flyweight warrior Mangyo Plange was concerned.

“I knew everything that Tañamor would do inside the ring, I knew his basic strengths and weaknesses, ” Plange was later quoted by PSC chair Butch Ramirez as saying.

For the record, Manny Lopez, the Abap president, had offered no excuses.

He said they lost to a better boxer.

Lopez did sound very honest and sincere.

But it’s not easy to believe his claim.

There’s another side to the national boxing tragedy.

Here it is: Tañamor was not exactly dumb, dry and hopeless.

He has clearly fallen prey to a blind, incompetent, non-achieving system that has shamelessly refused to go away.