Boxing trip sure to rile POC, PSC

“JUST landed in SFO,” Ed Picson reported by text just before 11 Thursday morning.

The news bulletin from San Francisco, California, by the former broadcaster and now executive director of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) is enough to create a stir at the Philippine Olympic Committee and its funding twin, the Philippine Sports Commission.

Enough to make POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr. and PSC Chair Richie Garcia chafing with bitter beer faces in a jiffy.

Against the wishes of Cojuangco and Garcia, 14 boxers, 1l men and three women, four coaches and Picson have arrived in the heart of the Bay Area to set up training camp at Golden Gate University and sparring stints in gyms in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. They will be away from the POC training facility in Baguio City until March 18.

The camp, bankrolled by the MVP Sports Foundation, is upon the invite of area SF Pinoys led by Joaquin Gonzalez III, chair of the department of public administration at the university.

It is seen by Abap as a final push to qualify its elite fighters to the 2016 Olympic Games and meant to shield them from scouts and other prying eyes.

But the POC and the PSC see the United States training in an entirely different light, sparking a thumbs down from Cojuangco, thus depriving the crew of P3 million in requested financial assistance from the PSC.

Garcia’s agency relies on approval from the POC before releasing cash.

In a veto statement for the team’s US budget, Garcia said the trip is too close to the Asia/Oceania Olympic qualifying tournament March 23-April 3in QuiaNan, China, where Abap expects to field six boxers, five males and one female.

It would be too taxing for the fighters to return home from the US only to fly to China on a limited time frame, the PSC Chair told Inquirer scribe Marc Anthony Reyes recently.

The Abap and the POC are known to lock horns when it comes to the training of the boxers—still the country’s brightest hopes for Olympic medals, including its first gold.

“We went ahead per [Abap president] Ricky Vargas,” Picson texted. “He (Vargas) says he believes in our coaches and the sports science team that drew up a [strategic] plan.”

“We will not debate the issue with anybody,” said Picson who seems to broadcast the fact that Abap is an independent national sports association supported by companies run by sports benefactor Manny V. Pangilinan and can do what it desires for the team’s well-being.

“Some people have their own opinion about this, but in the end we are accountable,” said Picson.

The team was able to fly to San Francisco on short notice, with help and hefty discounts from Philippine Airlines president Jimmy Bautista and Assistant vice president Harry Inoferio.