Two Palarong Pambansa boxing champions, Mark Lester Durens and Aaron Jude Bado, will have more opportunities to show their potential this month.
Durens and Bado will be among the eight young boxers being sent to the Asian Boxing Confederation Asian under-23 championships slated from Jan. 16 to 27 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines secretary general Marcus Manalo confirmed that Durens will fight in the 48-kg class, while Bado is listed in the 51-kg division.
Joining them are Flint Jara (54 kgs), Jericho Acaylar (57 kgs), Mervin Alcober (60 kgs) and Mark Ashley Fajardo (63.5 kgs).
Newcomers Althea Shine Flores (48kgs) and Mariel Talandrata are joining them in the distaff side.
Durens recently lost in the preliminaries of the 2022 ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championship in Thailand to Mongolian Orkhontingalag Unubold.
Bado will have his first international exposure since his boys’ light flyweight (46-48 kg) finals’ triumph against James Vicera three years ago in the Palarong Pambansa.
Manalo added that Olympians Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam will compete in the Strandja Memorial Tournament from Feb. 18 to 27 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
As for Eumir Marcial, his stint in Bulgaria is still unclear because of a coming professional fight, according to Manalo. Peter Atencio