Before making a name in the international scenes, three Filipino boxers have struggled and sacrificed their way in order to support their family to get out of poverty.

Fresh from winning his fight, Mark Magsayo who knocked out Mexican boxer Julio Ceja in the 10th round of their World Boxing Council (WBC) fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, sold pandesal and sorbetes while starting his boxing journey.

The pride of Tagbilaran, Bohol became interested in boxing in 2003 when he was only eight years old. He watched Manny Pacquiao on TV during his first match with Marco Antonio Barrera, which ended in an 11th round knockout for the Filipino boxing legend.

Magsayo is the third of four children by parents who were into making and selling bread. As a kid, he helped in the family business by selling pandesal and ice cream himself. He recalled the days when he was earning P120 to P200 daily which is enough to buy a kilo of rice and other food.

If ever there’s an extra budget left, he will keep it for his school expenses from elementary until high school. Magsayo said his two brothers are also boxers but he is the only one who went professional.

“Fan talaga ako ni Manny Pacquiao. Pinanood ko pa ‘yung laban niya kay Barrera [at] doon ako na-inspire na gusto ko mag-boxing (I was really a fan of Manny Pacquiao. I saw his fight versus Barrera and that inspired me to get into boxing),” he said.

It was in 2004 when Magsayo started training in a gym near their place as he was encouraged when he saw other kids around his age also taking up boxing lessons. Magsayo stopped selling ice cream at that point to focus on his newfound passion.

Now that Magsayo won the fight, he kept his unbeaten record intact with World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight belt.

Meanwhile, Olympic silver medalist and Filipino boxer Carlo Paalam also shared how he sacrificed a lot before making a name in the world of boxing.

Paalam lost to Great Britain’s Galal Yafai in the men’s flyweight final. However, he has already inspired so many Filipinos with his journey to Olympic glory.

Before being a boxing star, the pride of Talakag, Bukidnon said he was a garbage picker in Cagayan de Oro. In order to help his family make a living, a pre-teen Paalam used to scavenge for garbage in a stinking sanitary landfill in Barangay Carmen, Cagayan de Oro.

While doing some sidelines, Paalam has also been interested in boxing, joining weekly matches in Cagayan de Oro and was discovered in 2009 after a remarkable feat at the local “Boxing at the Park.”

The young Paalam earned the nickname “Pipi Lata” or tin-can crusher from one of his early coaches, two-time Olympian bantamweight fighter and 1990 Asian Games gold medalist Roberto “Bobby” Jalnaiz.

Through boxing, Paalam would split his prize money of P150 with the family, or would sometimes give the whole sum to buy food for them. Fortunately, he met former national coach Elmer Pamisa, who took over the amateur boxing development program in Cagayan de Oro where the former developed his skills and started making a name in the local scene.

Now that he’s 24 years old and relatively wealthy, the Olympian returned to Cagayan de Oro on Tuesday, August 24. More than the medal and cash incentives, the victory of Paalam also mended a broken family.

He was welcomed by his father Pio Rio and mother Jocelyn together for the first time in years, reuniting in cheering for him as he stepped down from the plane in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental. Although his parents now have families of their own and can never live under one roof again, Paalam was happy that both of his parents are now talking and there’s no hatred finally.

Third in the list is 25-year-old boxer Eumir Marcial who hails from Zamboanga City. It was not a surprise that Marcial is good in the sport as he comes from a family of boxers.

His cousin was on the national team in 2006 and his father Eulalio coached young boxers in Zamboanga. It was his father who got him into boxing and remains the biggest influence in his life. Eventually, boxing became a serious source of income for Marcial and his family and he entered local boxing matches to help support the family.

One of the most devastating news that struck the Marcial family was the death of Eumir’s eldest brother Eliver last year. He left six young children, the reason why Marcial got motivated to push himself harder in order to support his now fatherless nieces and nephews. Before he passed, Eliver told Eumir’s partner, Princess, that he was hopeful he’d win an Olympic gold.

The experiences of the three rising boxers are similar to the rags to riches story of Pinoy boxing legend Manny Pacquiao who also struggled a lot before reaching the stardom. It was recalled that Pacquiao, who lived with his parents, sister and two younger brothers in a single-room shack, would go days without food.

His father Rosalio scaled 70 coconut trees a day collecting coconuts to sell and make money to support his family while his mother Dionisia, sells peanuts on the streets. When his parents decided to separate ways, Manny dropped out of school and took up boxing at the age of 12. At 15, Pacquiao had established himself as the best junior boxer in the country. Most of the time, they had only bananas and root crops to eat, but when his boxing career went well, he made sure his family ate rice. Now they eat anything they want to eat.

Despite all their sacrifices, these boxers used their inspiring experiences to become more motivated in every fight. And now that they already made a name in the international stage, they considered it as a symbolic rise of their boxing careers.IMT