Analyst Ryan Songalia does not expect PHL boxing bet Barriga to bring home a medal

Watch - News to Go's Interview with Ryan Songalia Filipino-American boxing analyst Ryan Songalia said he does not expect Filipino Mark Barriga to bring home a medal, citing the 19-year-old's inexperience in an interview with "News to Go" host Howie Severino, Tuesday.   "Sana manalo si Barriga but realistically he’s a 19-year-old who’s going to be fighting grown men," Songalia said.   Barriga is from Davao del Norte and will be squaring off against Italian Manuel Cappai in the light flyweight category on Tuesday, 8:30 pm (PHL time).   Songalia said that the favorite for this year’s Olympics is Zou Shiming who also won the gold in 2008. Both Shiming and Barriga fought in last year's World Championships, and Songalia saw the experience gap between the two fighters.   "I don’t think it’s realistic to expect him to win a medal but he’s a strong medal contender," said Songalia.   ‘Not good enough’   Severino asked Songalia the chances of Barriga winning a silver and bronze medal instead.   "You have to look at just the numbers game because the Philippines is only sending one boxer," he answered.   "It’s like how many seeds you plant, that’s how many you can expect to grow. We’ve only planted one and this is a 19-year-old inexperienced as compared to the others," he added.   Severino then brought up Onyok Velasco, the Filipino boxer who won a silver medal in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics and asked: "So we’ve done it before, we can do it again?"   "You have to look what did we do differently there," Songalia replied.   He then cited that America brought in two Olympic Cuban trainers that helped the American team win three medals.   "So we [Americans] had success with that, perhaps that’s what we [the Philippines] should do. Look at what the other countries are doing for success and try to do that," Songalia said.   "Right now the Philippine amateur boxing system is not good enough to even get two representatives so we need improvement. If it's not coming from within it needs to come from outside," he added.   Amateur versus professional boxing   "They’re two very different sports," replied Songalia when asked the difference between Olympic and professional boxing.   He said that most professional boxers now will have a hard time against the amateurs in an Olympic match who were ‘slick’ with their three-round bouts.   “It doesn’t matter how effective the punch is; it's just about scoring points on the white part of the glove,” he said.   Songalia also stated that even Philippine boxing icon and Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao could be beaten should the fight be held under amateur rules. Watch - FTW: Just one boxer for the PHL Olympic team?   Equipping for success   Severino then proceeded to ask: "If we can produce Manny Pacquiao, why can’t we produce an Olympic boxer gold medalist?"   "It all comes down to how important the gold medal is to the country," replied Songalia.   Songalia said that amateur boxing in other countries is important but locally, professional boxing is favored because you can make more money.   "It’s kind of sad that we're a boxing country yet we're only sending one fighter," Songalia said, before stressing, "You have to equip them for success."   "If the infrastructure is not there and they’re not being cultivated, if the right people aren’t in the position or power to guide them to where they need to be, people with experience in amateur boxing, they’re not going to do well," Songalia elaborated.   He mentioned that Philippine amateur boxers have a lot of talent but they will turn into professional boxers more often than not, due to the lack of support.   "I don’t think that’s acceptable and the system should be looked at and we need to make the proper adjustments so that we can represent ourself better," he said.   Songalia stated that they were also experiencing the same problems in America with their amateur boxers.   "I feel that there should be people who are experienced in amateur boxing, either training or dealing with the fighters themselves that are in charge, giving them what they need," he said.   Songalia then said that the country needs to "incentivize" or make it beneficial for amateur boxers to improve the current system.   "It doesn’t have to be money," he suggested.   "It could be an amateur boxing television show. That could create some prestige for them, where they’re like oh, I want to be on TV. I could be on TV with this amateur boxing and I’ll stick with it and maybe I'll try it in the Olympics," he added. Songalia is a writer for The Ring and a contributor to GMA News Online Sports. - Andrei Medina / AMD, GMA News