FILIPINO Olympic boxers channeled all their previous pains to emerge victorious in their battles.

Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines secretary general and sports psychologist Marcus Jarwin Manalo revealed the factors contributing to the success of some Olympic boxers.

Familiar with the narrative of “boxing their way out of poverty,” Manalo said that this all stems from their struggles in their early life that served as a motivation to win.

Aira Villegas (right) AFP PHOTO
 

“There’s a study done about it. It seems that the adversity, especially during childhood, is strongly related to their Olympic success later on,” he told The Manila Times.

“Generally speaking, if you are out of your comfort zone several times, you have to be adaptable. You have no choice but to pursue, and that’s also the case for them. You can see how they use that as a motivation because literally you have to fight to put food on the table,” he added.

Boxers like Nesthy Petecio, Aira Villegas and Carlo Paalam had their fair share of aches before being showered by glory.

Paalam started boxing in the park at age seven to have food on his plate and also was a scavenger at a landfill before taking home the silver medal in the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Petecio sold manure as fertilizer to earn money before becoming the first Filipina to earn an Olympic medal in boxing after her silver finish in the Tokyo Olympics, and also added another bronze medal in the Paris Games.

Villegas sold cashews, worked as a parking attendant, and did carwash before taking home the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics.

Aside from their hard work and grit, every time that these boxers are competing, they also made a vow to themselves to never go back to that situation again.

“They do not think like: It’s okay if I don’t compete, this is just for fun. For them, the reason is deeper. They fought early in the competitions because they had a prize money worth a hundred pesos or P250, which was already big for them before,” Manalo said.

“Later on, they developed a passion for the sport. They liked the feeling of getting better, they liked the feeling of representing the country. The motivation shifts. … But it all starts from adversity. It all starts from the tough situation of their childhood.”

Finishing the Paris Games with two bronze medals, Manalo was proud of his team’s finish.

“Well, boxing came from a long history of great athletes. If you look at the Olympic medals even prior to Tokyo and Paris, the majority of the medals came from boxing. Again, I am proud of the combined efforts of boxers, coaching staff, and even the sponsors, the government side, and even our private sponsors. It is all a combined effort to represent boxing at the highest level, Olympic level. So it takes a village,” he said.