WORLD champion Nesthy Petecio is going through the grinders in the bubble training camp in Calamba to the point that her coaches spar her with male boxers because the women couldn’t take her punches.
“We just cannot allow Nesthy [Petecio] to spar with her only sparring partner,” said women’s Coach Nolito “Boy” Velasco, referring to women’s lightweight Risa Pasuit. “She [Pasuit] couldn’t handle Nesthy’s power. Nesthy’s always in control and she couldn’t subdue her punches against Pasuit.”
Petecio is with an 16-athlete boxing team—10 men and six women training inside the Inspire Sports Institute along with fellow Tokyo Olympics aspirants in karatedo and taekwondo.
The International Boxing Association canceled the Olympic qualifiers originally set for May in Paris and will instead go the the world rankings to fill up the vacant slots for Tokyo.
Petecio is the No. 2-ranked featherweight in the world—behind Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu Ting—giving her a strong chance to earn a ticket to the Olympics. Also with a strong chance is men’s light flyweight Carlo Paalam, who despite ranked No. 12, is a potential Olympian by virtue of the continental quota set for the Games.
Velasco said he couldn’t pair Petecio against Tokyo Olympics-bound Irish Magno (flyweight), Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Josie Gabuco (light flyweight), Aira Villegas (featherweight) and Analene Cellon (lightweight) because they, too, couldn’t take the 28-year-old’s fists.
“No woman can last with Nesthy because of her strong punching power level in both hands,” Velasco said. “Unlike Gabuco and Villegas, they can handle Magno in sparring.”
Tasked to take on Petecio are flyweight Marvin Tabamo and bantamweight Junilardo Ogayre.
“Most of the time they spar for four rounds and then by Friday, it’s free sparring. I just let them give their best against Nesthy,” Velasco said. “So far, we’re happy with the result of the sparring sessions and Nesthy also hurt them and she is showing great defense.”
“She intimidates the men,” he added.
Petecio won gold in the World Championship in Ulan-Ude, Russia, in October 2019 and also topped her weight class in the Southeast Asian Games hosted by the country on the same yeart.
The national team will fly to Muak Lek in Saraburi, Thailand, next month for a bubble training camp and participate in the Thailand Open.