Delarmino does homework for World Games

Muay’s Phillip Delarmino delivers a gold medal to cap off the country’s 31st SEA Games campaign. Photo via Muaythai Association of the Philippines (FILE PHOTO)

Muay fighter Phillip Delarmino will encounter nothing out of the ordinary in his quest for a historic gold medal for the Philippines in the coming World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama.

The reigning Filipino world champion has become all too familiar with his rivals, all of them proficient to seize the men’s 57-kilogram category diadem on any given day in the quadrennial global meet for sports excluded from the Summer Olympics.

“I know the fighters that I’m going to face out there. I’ve met them in previous tournaments, so my focus now is how to counter their styles, which my coach and I have been closely studying,’’ Delarmino told the Inquirer.

Nicknamed “The Destroyer,’’ Delarmino is expecting a different outcome in the July 7 to July 17 Games, far from the quarterfinal exit he absorbed at the hands of Kazakhstan fighter Almaz Sarsembekov during the 2017 edition in Wroclaw, Poland.

Aside from Sarsembekov, Delarmino has also been gearing up for Aleksandr Abramov of Russia and other world-caliber muay fighters from Belarus and Ukraine.

“These Europeans are tall and have longer limbs. In training, we have been preparing to counter their length,’’ said Delarmino, who at 5-foot-6 ruled the 2019 and 2022 Southeast Asian Games in his weight class.

The 31-year-old Delarmino claimed his world title at the International Federation of Muaythai Associations World Championships in Phuket, Thailand, in December last year at the expense of Abramov.

Delarmino defeated Abramov, 30-27, in the finals of the world championships and likewise got the approval of the judges, scoring 10-9 in all three rounds.

He exacted sweet revenge on Sarsembekov in the semifinals of the world meet with a narrow 29-28 win that arranged the fitting finale opposite Abramov. INQ