The Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines is not harping on its gold medal chances in the 28 th Southeast Asian Games scheduled for June 5 to 16 in Singapore.

“We have 10 boxers so we have 10 chances. But realistically speaking, we cannot say if we can win three, five or eight,” ABAP executive director Ed Picson said yesterday at the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum in Manila.

“I'd be a fool to guarantee gold medals or even one gold medal,” Picson said during the weekly forum.

In the 2013 Myanmar SEA Games, boxing provided some of the highlights of the Philippine campaign, winning three gold, four silver, and three bronze medals.

But there's no guarantee that the Philippines can bring home as many medals this time.

Picson said they should manage their expectations and have to be realistic with their chances.

To spearhead the Philippine campaign are male boxers Ian Clark Bautista, Junel Cantancio, Rogen Ladon, Wilfredo Lopez, Eumir Felix Marcial, and Mario Fernandez.

Vying in the women's side are Josie Gabuco, Irish Magno, Riza Pasuit and Nesthy Petecio.

Fernandez and Gabuco won two of the three gold medals in 2011.

Mark Anthony Barriga, the third gold medalist, skipped this year's SEA Games along with Charly Suarez to vie in the AIBA Pro Boxing tournament, a gathering of the top 80 amateurs in the world.

But Picson said Barriga, a veteran of the 2012 London Olympics, will soon undergo surgery on his right knuckle and will be out of the ring for three months.

He said the Pinoy boxers did everything possible to prepare for the SEA Games.

He pointed to Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia as the countries to contend with.

He said Thailand is the perennial foe but they know that Vietnam is on the rise and that Malaysia and Indonesia prepared hard.

The Thailand boxing team, he said, had a budget the equivalent of P120 million for this SEA Games alone.*PNA

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