Bantamweight Joan Tipon and five other Filpino boxers leave for Baku, Azerbaijan today to compete in the AIBA World Boxing Championship, and hopefully, secure a slot to the 2012 London Olympics.

Tipon, who won the gold in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, will turn 30 years old next year and the London Games could be his last chance to fulfill his Olympic dream.

He was tapped to join the ABAP team in Azerbaijan to replace Junel Cantancio who went down with the flu.

With him are 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games gold medalist Rey Saludar Saludar, who will see action in the 52-kg flyweight division, light flyweight Anthony Barriga (46-49 kgs), lightweight Charly Suarez (60kgs), light welterweight Rolando Tacuyan (64kgs), and welterweight Delfin Boholst (69kgs).

Except in super heavyweight and heavyweight from where six each will be picked, the top eight boxers from the different weight divisions in the tournament set September 26 to October 8 will advance to the London Olympiad.

An Asian Olympic qualifying tournament is scheduled in Kazakhstan early next year, but it is in the World Championship where the Filipino boxers have their best shot.

In 1996, Mansueto ‘Onyok’ Velasco brought home the silver medal from the Atlanta Olympics, and four years before him elder brother Roel settled for the bronze in Barcelona.

In Seoul in 1988, Leopoldo Serrantes managed a bronze medal, and in Tokyo, back in 1964, Anthony Villanueva took the silver medal, an improvement from the bronze medal finish of his father, Jose, during the 1932 Olympic in Los Angeles.

Harry Tanamor qualified to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 after a silver medal performance in the AIBA World Championship in Chicago.

But he fell to a counterpunching opponent from Ghana in the first round, dashing yet another dream of a first-ever Olympic gold medal for the country.

Other than powerhouse Russia and the former Soviet republics, competition will come from Europe, Latin America and even Asia behind Thailand and China.

Also expected to cause a stir is the US Olympic team which has been getting pointers from Freddie Roach, who trains Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, in Colorado Springs.

According to ABAP executive director Ed Picson, a boxer has to win three or four preliminary matches to reach the quarterfinals set Oct. 5.

The semifinals are scheduled on Oct. 7 after a rest day, and the finals follow on Oct. 8.

Picson said, ABAP president Ricky Vargas, has committed full financial support to any boxer who will make it to the Olympics.*PNA

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