Barriga faces Italian foe in Olympic debut

LONDON—There’s a mountain of a foe called Zou Shiming for light flyweight boxer Mark Barriga.

But first, the only Filipino pug in the London Olympics here must scale two hills in order to set up an all-or-nothing quarterfinal clash with China’s world No. 1 and reigning Olympic champion Zou.

In a draw Filipino officials described as “good” for the country’s lone ring bet, Barriga got Italian fighter Manuel Cappai as his first-round opponent in boxing’s lightest division which fires off on Tuesday at Olympic Park’s ExCel South Arena 2 in Stratford here.

The 19-year-old pug from Panabo in Davao, however, landed in the same half of the draw as Zou, the tall and wiry veteran who beat him in the quarterfinals of an Olympic qualifier in Uzbekistan last year.

Zou, along with the world’s next three best-ranked light flyweights, drew a first-round bye and will fight the winner of the bout between Billy Ward of Australia and the dangerous Yosbany Veitia Soto of Cuba next.

Cappai is eight months older than Barriga and boasts a bronze medal in the 2008 world championships. The youngest Italian ever to box in the Olympics, the Cagliari-born Cappai trains under his father Fabrizzio, a former Italian featherweight champion.

A win over Cappai will send Barriga into a second-round bout with the winner of the fight between Kazakhstan’s Birzhan Zhakypov and France’s Jeremy Beccu on Saturday. Another victory will set up the Zou encounter.

Filipino boxing coach Roel Velasco said Cappai moves and fights like Zou but is a bit slower.

“Parang si Zou kung maglaro—suntok, takbo, suntok, takbo (Cappai fights like Zou—he throws a punch and then retreats),” said Velasco, who watched a video clip of the Italian on YouTube. “Counterpuncher, pero hindi kasinggaling ni (but not as good as) Zou. We have a good chance.”

Barriga, who has never fought Cappai before, saw his Italian foe for the first time during the weigh-in Friday afternoon. Cappai, at 5 feet 6 inches, is taller by four inches.

“I am the shortest in the group,” said Barriga in Filipino. “He moves quick but I am ready for him.”

Apart from the bronze at the world championships, Cappai also won bronze in last year’s European championships, losing to eventual champion Aleksander Aleksandrov of Bulgaria on points in the semifinals.

Also drawing first-round byes are world No. 2 Shin Jong-hun of South Korea, No. 3 David Ayrapetyan of Russia and No. 4 Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia.