Boxer Vincent Palicte gets second chance Thursday in Mandaluyong

MANDALUYONG CITY - Bantamweight boxer Vincent Palicte brought all of the expectations of world championship glory with him when he turned professional in 2006. Palicte, 26, hails from Bago City in Negros Occidental, the same city that produced 1996 Olympic silver medalist Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco, and had amateur laurels of his own to boast of. At the age of 16, "Popeye" Palicte qualified for the Philippine Navy boxing team, making the squad after his papers were doctored to say he was 18. By 2005 he was a member of the National Amateur team, and won his first four bouts. But talent can be a burden in itself, and the overconfidence and complacency that came with the relative ease of his craft. The distractions of the streets and party life soon took precedence in his life, and his career began to suffer. Palicte lost his fifth bout by technical knockout to an unheralded journeyman in the fifth round and has since struggled to regain the form that made him one of the country's most versatile rising prospects. It took Palicte hitting rock bottom for him to see what he had lost. In 2010, Palicte lost a winnable fight to John Mark Apolinario that would have earned him a ranking with the World Boxing Organization (WBO) at 115 pounds, due in large part to his lackadaisical approach to training camp. "My biggest problem before was overconfidence," admitted Palicte, whose record stands at 14-3-1 (7 knockouts). "I thought before that even if I didn't train, I'd win the fights." As Palicte sat on the sidelines thinking of what he wanted to do with his life, he was struck with a case of tuberculosis that cost him the entire year of 2011 to recover. It was then that he realized that a future without boxing was hardly a future at all. Now with manager Jason Soong behind him, Palicte's career has new life as he looks to rack up his third straight victory this Thursday when he faces Fredirex Rodriguez (8-2-1, 6 KOs) for the vacant WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight at the Mandaluyong Gym in Mandaluyong City. The show, which will air on GMA News 11's "All Sports" this Sunday beginning at 9:30AM, is open to the public free of charge as the initial promotional venture of former Navy boxing coach Joven Jimenez. The WBO regional belt was recently vacated by top Filipino contender AJ Banal when he agreed to face Thai Pungluang Sor Singyu for the world title. "I treat this fight as the most important fight of my professional career," said Palicte. "It will bring me to a world title fight." Joining Palicte will be his younger brother and flyweight prospect Aston Palicte (9-0, 7 KOs), who goes up against Mark Joseph Costa (4-5-2, 1 KOs) in his first ten round assignment. Also appearing on the card will be Jimenez's pupils from Davao del Norte Adones Cabalquinto (12-0, 8 KOs) and Jerwin Ancajas (13-1-1, 5 KOs) versus Jaypee Ignacio (8-13-2, 2 KOs) and John Mark Bautista (10-6-1, 4 KOs), respectively. The Palicte Brothers, Cabalquinto and Ancajas made a courtesy call to Mandaluyong City Mayor Benjamin C. Abalos, Jr. on Tuesday morning. Abalos stated his support for boxing, which goes back to his days as a manager. "This [event] is very timely because we are now reeling from Gener and now Helen, so this will more or less give some entertainment so the people can at least for a while forget about what happened," said Mayor Abalos. "What is most important here is the Filipino pride. As we very well know, it was Manny Pacquiao who made our name in boxing, but there are a lot of others who could be Manny Pacquiaos and we are more than willing to host this boxing event, and any other." Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and contributes to GMA News. He is also a member of The Ring ratings panel. He can be reached at songaliaboxing@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter: @RyanSongalia. You can vote for Songalia in the Outstanding Filipino Americans of NY Awards media/publishing category by clicking on this photo and liking it via Facebook.