Paris Olympics: the boxing gym offering way out of poverty for children in Philippines
- Children from the ages of 10 to 18 spar in the Bago City gymnasium after school before sleeping under the ring’s canvas at night
At a bare-bones gym in the central Philippines, children in torn shoes put on frayed head guards in pursuit of their Olympic boxing dream – and a way out of poverty.
Aged from 10 to 18, they spar in the Bago City gymnasium after school before sleeping under the ring’s canvas at night.
Located on the island of Negros, in the sugar-growing region which has some of the country’s starkest rich-poor divides, the city of 200,000 calls itself the Philippines’ “boxing capital”.
Eight of the 70 Filipino boxers to have made it to the Olympics got their start at the Bago City gym.
Boxers there work out on peeling punching bags under the buzz of giant old electric fans straining to give some relief from the oppressive tropical heat.
The most recent Bago Olympian, Rio 2016 light-flyweight Roger Ladon, was not one of the five boxers to qualify for Paris, leaving the city pining for a new poster boy.