Barriga recalls winning moment

LITTLE PACMAN Filipino Mark Barriga lands a solid right against Italian foe Manuel Cappai during their 49-kg bout. Barriga scored a 17-7 victory to advance to the next round. AP

LONDON—Mark Barriga was to have lunch with his parents on Wednesday, the day after he advanced to the round of 16 in the boxing competition of the Olympic Games.

Mark briefly meet them after his decisive victory over Italy’s Manuel Cappai on Tuesday but they could not be together for long. They were brought over to London from the Philippines by Procter and Gamble, an Olympic sponsor which is highlighting the role of parents in the development of Olympic athletes. It is their first trip abroad.

Mark was reluctant to give interviews after the fight because he’s not used to the attention. But he gave his own account of the fight through Ed Picson, a former broadcaster who is now executive director of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines.

Here is Barriga’s account, as told to Picson:

After Mark hit Cappai with a solid left straight to the face in the first round, he saw the Italian’s expression change. It was then that he felt he could win the fight. He felt his opponent became intimidated.

He felt the Italian also had power and he had to be really quick to get out of the way of his power shots especially in the second round. He got hit by a wild shot by Cappai to the chest that almost knocked the wind out of him. But Mark stood his ground.

Late in the third round after coach Roel Velasco adjusted his head guard and he knew he had a comfortable lead, he decided to do his “Pacquiao moves,” emulating his boxing idol. He scored a couple more points in that stretch.

He knows Kazakhstan’s Birzhan Zhakypov, his next opponent, quite well. Early this year at the Asian Olympic Qualifying in Uzbekhistan , Abap sent Barriga even though he was already qualified. He didn’t participate in the tournament. He just trained there. He sparred with Zhakypov two or thee times and they had very exciting sessions. Mark bloodied his nose once, but he says that is no indication that he will have an easy time against him Saturday. Mark says he needs to be at his best because the 28-year-old Zhakypov also wants to advance and will pull out all the stops to get there.

Mark is embarrassed that he could not accommodate requests for interviews. He says he wants to be able to finish the job first. He composed the following statement instead in Filipino which roughly goes:

Please bear with me for not accommodating requests for an interview. I’m still at a loss for words for all the attention following my first win. I have a lot to go to get a medal. My next opponents are strong and I don’t want to celebrate yet. I have to focus on my training. We’ve been studying tapes of my next foe from Kazakhstan. I think that will be a good fight. I sparred with him during training. He’s good and strong. He even greeted me before my first fight and told me I can beat the Italian. I told him he can also beat his rival from France. But we will be going all out when we fight. He’s nice but we’re rivals in the ring and I’ll do my best to win.