Edito Villamor’s son showing signs of brilliance in boxing

14-year-old AJ Ala Villamor qualifies for Palaro VisMin Boxing Cup

AJ Ala Villamor (left) with  his father Edito Villamor (right). | Contributed Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The youngest son of former world title challenger Edito “ALA” Villamor looks headed to a promising career in boxing.

This after AJ Ala Villamor became one of the nine qualifiers of the upcoming Palarong Pambansa VisMin Boxing Cup to be held in July here.

The 14-year old AJ Ala is one of two Villamor Boxing Gym boxers who won a gold in the VisMin Cup 2022 Box-Off held  Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at the Cebu City Sports Center. The other is Vicente Unidos.

The Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) Central Visayas, headed by regional director Lorenzo “Chao” Sy, organized the boxing event to select more qualifiers for the Palarong Pambansa boxing event next month.

AJ Ala, who is also a bemedalled karate-ka, defeated Niño Mark Viterbo of the Zapatera Night High School by unanimous decision in the junior boys’ flyweight division.

Edito said he strongly believes his son has a bright future in boxing because of the attitude and dedication he has during training.

“Nakita nako nga naa siya’y future sa boxing kay sa karate niya nga naka-compete siya sa mga national ug international levels like sa Malaysia naka bronze siya didto ug sa Gojukai international competition nga naka gold medal siya,” said Villamor, who once led the famed ALA Boxing Gym in the 1990s. 

(I see he has a future in boxing because in karate, he has competed in national and international levels like in Malaysia, where he won a bronze, and at the Gojukai international competition, where he won a gold.)

Edito said AJ won numerous gold medals in national and international karate-do competitions in the past years before  transitioning to boxing.

“Siya jud mismo nisulti nako nga mo shift sa boxing. Nisugot ko tungod sa iyang attitude towards the training ug dili siya mabentahan sa iyang weight category,” Edito said.

(He himself said he wanted to shift to boxing. I agreed because I knew his attitude towards training and he fits perfectly in his weight category.)

For Edito, his dream is to be able to see his son make it to the Olympics.

“Ipa target gyud nako niya sa Olympics with the proper guidance sa mga naghandle sa sport sa boxing,” said the elder Villamor.

(I will let him target the Olympics with proper guidance of the people handling the sport of boxing.)

Edito was once a top-notch boxer here. He fought for the world title twice and after wrapping up his career, he turned into a noted trainer of the ALA Boxing Gym and then became an international matchmaker during the promotions’ heydays. 

After the ALA Boxing Gym and ALA Promotions closed shop in 2020, Villamor continued the legacy of boxing Godfather Antonio L. Aldeguer by opening up a boxing gym in Pagsabungan, Mandaue City.

His efforts are paying off as Villamor has two boxers now set to compete in the Palaro boxing event. 

Unidos triumphed against Garth Llamas of Minglanilla in the boys youth lightweight division via split decision to be the other qualifier for the stable. 

Villamor’s two other boxers in Jobert Catulogan and Justine Balbarino also bagged silver medals in their respective weight categories. But only gold medalists will qualify. 

The rest of those who qualified were Ken Villanueva (Mabolo), Sean Abello (Consolacion), Khyl Sumalinog (Cebu City), Jay Bryan Baricuatro (Talisay City), John PauL Sarigumba (Mandaue), John Kevin Jimenez (Cebu City), and Mark Ashley Fajardo (Talisay City). 

The Palarong Pambansa VisMin Boxing Cup is expected to field in around 80 boxers from eighty teams around the Visayas and Mindanao region.

/bmjo

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