Camille Naredo

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ABS-CBN News

<p>The Philippine boxing federation is planning to ask for an inquiry regarding the conduct of the sport in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, which saw the host nation win 14 of the 17 gold medals at stake.</p><p>The Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (ABAP) will write to World Boxing about what they perceive as &quot;irregularities&quot; in the competition, secretary-general Marcus Manalo told POC Media on Friday.</p><p>The Philippines, a boxing powerhouse in Southeast Asia, managed just one gold medal in the 33rd SEA Games, courtesy of Olympian Eumir Marcial in light-heavyweight.</p><p>Three boxers, including Olympian Aira Villegas, fell in their respective finals. Six others settled for bronze medals, including two-time Olympic medalist Nesthy Petecio who lost in the semifinals to an Indonesian opponent.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/12/14/seag-ph-boxing-officials-displeased-over-judging-the-sport-has-to-be-better-1704">READ: PH boxing officials displeased over judging -- &#x27;The sport has to be better&#x27;</a></div><p>&quot;We&#x27;re gonna write to World Boxing. We&#x27;re always speaking to the technical delegate, ayaw na nga akong kausapin eh,&quot; said Manalo. &quot;We&#x27;re always speaking to them, we&#x27;re speaking to the Thai officials who are also Asian boxing officials.&quot;</p><p>&quot;They&#x27;re just promising us na it&#x27;s gonna be fair, we&#x27;re not doing anything here. That&#x27;s what they&#x27;ve been telling us,&quot; he added.</p><p>&quot;Pero kami, we&#x27;ll write to World Boxing, our international federation, to at least have an inquiry. Tingnan niyo lang kung ano nangyari. May irregularities ba o wala? And then they decide for themselves.&quot;</p><p>Manalo highlighted Jay Bryan Baricuatro&#x27;s loss to Thailand&#x27;s Thitiwat Phlongaurai in the final of the men&#x27;s light flyweight division, stressing his belief that the Filipino should have won the third round.</p><p>&quot;Kailangan ko na ipadala sa World Boxing &#x27;yung third round. We lost the third round… Na-deduction &#x27;yung Thai in the last round. Bakit na-deductionan? Kumakapit na, wala nang lakas. Kaya na-deductionan. Paano mananalo sa scorecards?&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;&#x27;Yun pa lang, papadala ko lang yan sa World Boxing, napaka-blatant na judging error eh. Inexcusable eh. Unless, you&#x27;re either corrupt or you&#x27;re incompetent. Which is, walang lugar dito &#x27;yun eh,&quot; he added.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;MAY PATTERN&#x27;</strong></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1766213265625WhatsApp Image 2025-12-19 at 9.31.34 PM.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="ABAP secretary-general Marcus Manalo and other Filipino sports officials talk to Eumir Marcial after his victory in the 2025 SEA Games, December 19, 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand. POC Media" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">ABAP secretary-general Marcus Manalo and other Filipino sports officials talk to Eumir Marcial after his victory in the 2025 SEA Games, December 19, 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand. <em>POC Media</em></span></span></span></div><p>The ABAP official made it clear that other nations also got the short end of the stick when it comes to judging, notably Singapore and Vietnam.</p><p>The sheer number of Thai boxers who competed for gold medals is also a red flag for Manalo.</p><p>&quot;Masasabi mo na, yeah in a tournament, meron talagang magkakamali. Iba-iba &#x27;yung anggulo ng judges, okay fine, meron talagang results that will not go your way,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;Pero may pattern eh. Again, 16 of 17 of their boxers in the finals? They got 14 out of the 17 gold medals. They&#x27;re good boxers, of course, yes. They&#x27;re good boxers, pero come on. Irregularities naman yata doon,&quot; he added.</p><p>Controversies regarding judging are nothing new in boxing, said Manalo, calling it a &quot;big area for improvement&quot; for the sport in general. </p><p>&quot;That&#x27;s something that we really need to improve on as a sport, otherwise baka wala tayo sa Olympics nito after LA 2028. So yung mga ganitong tournaments, nakikita ng IOC yan. So we really have to be careful,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;That&#x27;s what we&#x27;re going to express sa World Boxing -- at least have an inquiry here. Dahil, hindi pwedeng maulit &#x27;yung mga ganitong ano. May mga blatant na bad decisions eh.&quot;</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/3/17/ioc-set-to-include-boxing-on-2028-olympics-program-2243">READ: IOC set to include boxing on 2028 Olympics program</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/3/20/boxing-receives-official-ioc-thumbs-up-for-los-angeles-games-1930">READ: Boxing receives official IOC thumbs-up for Los Angeles Games</a></div><p>While they will seek an inquiry, the federation will also look inward and see what can be done to improve the Philippine boxing team, said Manalo. The official expressed his pride in the effort of the Filipino fighters -- many of whom were competing in the SEA Games for the first time -- but he acknowledged that there is work to do for them in future competitions.</p><p>&quot;Again, hindi naman tayo magrereklamo lang pero we have to also reflect. Kailangan din namin tingnan yung mga bagay na nasa control namin na dapat masagawa namin,&quot; said Manalo, noting that they will also evaluate the performance of their coaches.</p><p>&quot;Hindi naman tayo parang sore loser lang na lahat ng talo natin, daya,&quot; he added. &quot;Alam naman natin pag talo tayo pero yung iba naman, sobra naming unfair.&quot;</p>

<p>The Philippine boxing federation is planning to ask for an inquiry regarding the conduct of the sport in the #2025SEAGames, which saw the host nation win 14 of the 17 gold medals at stake.</p>

The Philippine boxing federation is planning to ask for an inquiry regarding the conduct of the sport in the #2025SEAGames, which saw the host nation win 14 of the 17 gold medals at stake.

ABAP plans to ask for inquiry over 'irregularities' in SEA Games boxing

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ABAP plans to ask for inquiry over 'irregularities' in SEA Games boxing

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published December 20, 2025 03:05 PM PHT

Read More:

abssports

boxing

ABAP

World Boxing

SEA Games

2025 SEA Games

Thailand

Marcus Manalo

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