Four young members of the Subion family are set to enter amateur boxing competitions in mainland Luzon in the next three months as they build on their dominant showing in the recent Elorde Ultimate Knockout Challenge (UKC) Revolution Boxing Event in Paranaque, Metro Manila.
At their home in Palta Small, Virac, their father, Archie Subion, told the Tribune that Archie II, Dithrone, Yurrico Cain and Bishounen will be fighting in Batangas City this March 9, before going to Cagayan province in April and back to Camarines Sur for a big event in May.
Described by Mayor Samuel Laynes as the future of Catanduanes boxing, the quartet represented Team Virac in the event held at the Elorde Boxing Center last Jan. 28-29, 2023, with Dithrone not only ending up as champion in the 34 kg. division but also selected as best fighter of the tournament.
On his way to the top, the 11-year-old Dithrone defeated Jhinijie Kyrie Ancajas, son of former IBF super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas who is now training in Las Vegas for his next fight after losing twice in a row to his successor, Fernando Daniel Fernandez of Argentina.
Also emerging as champs in their respective weight divisions were Yurrico Cain, 13, in the 47 kg. class and Bishounen, 16, in the 46 kg. division, while Archie, 11, suffered a loss in the 36 kg. class.
Their foray into Metro Manila’s boxing scene was supported by financial assistance from Virac’s Mayor Laynes, Governor Joseph Cua, Vice Governor Peter Cua, Congressman Eulogio Rodriguez, San Andres Mayor Leo Mendoza and Vice Mayor Greg Salvador, and Virac Councilor Xyrell Albaniel.
Undefeated in amateur boxing tournaments held during barangay fiestas in Catanduanes in the past several months, the four Subion brothers have tallied a total of 46 wins with 18 knockouts so far, with just that one loss in the Elorde contest.
Their individual records are as follows: Dithrone, 13-0 (6 KOs); Archie, 13-1 (5 KOs); Yurrico Cain, 11-0 (3 KOs); and Bishounen, 9-0 (4 KOs).
According to their father Archie, who acts as their trainer and manager, the boys have so far competed in the local tourneys without being noticed by boxing officials of the Catanduanes Schools Division office due to the lack of financial support for the sport.
Grade 6 pupil Dithrone started boxing at the age of five while Yurrico Cain, who is in Grade 7, took up the gloves at age 7, while Bishounen, Grade 10, and Archie, Grade 9, began training at age 4, said Archie.
He trains the kids after school in their Palta Big residence with the full support of wife Cristy Regalado Santelices, who is set to give birth to their eight child early this week.
Archie told the Tribune that the regimen has not affected the kids’ studies and, in fact, the Subion kids are intent on going to college.
The latest male addition to the big family will definitely be the last, the husband stated, after three-year-old Mesmile, the baby girl who Cristy desperately wanted.
The couple’s eldest who is in Grade 11, Ainller, has not dabbled in boxing as he is prone to asthma but Cain Conor, 5, is already shadow boxing and can even lift himself up the chin bar.
Archie Sr. said he once fought in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) underground for the P10,000 to P15,000 prize for winners and had a 6-2 win-loss record.
He recalled that he often brought the older kids to the gym in Cavite while he trained, saw their interest in the sport of fighting and gave them some training.
After leaving the sport in 2012, he then went to Jubail, Saudi Arabia to work in a restaurant and returned to the province in 2016 with some earnings left over.
In Palta Small along the highway to San Andres, the family stayed at a “media-talle” house with GI roofing owned by his US-based sister.
His plan to go back as OFW in 2017 was cancelled when his son was injured in a vehicular accident.
Two years later, the pandemic forced the family to sell its possessions and even forego the relative luxury of electricity.
Now, all the light that the kids need for them to study at night is supplied by two rechargeable solar lamps.
He earns just enough from teaching boxing to female clients to feed his growing family, augmented at times by the P400 to P500 per fight that his four amateur boxers gets from occasional boxing competitions during barangay fiestas.
Archie remembers that he told his boys that if they want to box, they should be doubly careful as it is serious, difficult sport.
“I get hurt inside when they get hit in the ring,” he says, adding that what he fears most is for them to get hit by a power punch that would knock them out unconscious.
But every time he reminds them of this, the kids assure him they will do their best as they want to help him save enough funds for his cataract operation.
He said that he once was scheduled to undergo the operation but was told a day earlier that it would not proceed as the lens for his eye had already expired.
At first, the only equipment he had for training the kids was a punching bag that consisted of an empty “double-bag” sack which he filled with sand.
The makeshift bag was later replaced with a used but real one donated by Bryan Basinio, who also gave him gloves, while Archie asked a neighbor for three used truck tires.
Archie also installed a steel pipe anchored to a fence corner as a chin bar.
To build up their arm muscles, one of the boys pummel a tire with a thick piece of guava wood while another jumps on the other two tires for leg strength.
For stamina, he makes them run sprints at the side of the highway, footwork training on the concrete gutter, and sometimes running up the road to Cagmasoso.
What the boys need more is support in the form of equipment, proper food and vitamins, with US-based donor JR Escalante providing some of them along with clothes.
What lies ahead for the Subion boxers?
Archie believes that in 10 years, given proper training, one or two would become a pro boxing champ, but he prefers that they first study until they graduate.
For now, they will have to beg for funds from public officials and private individuals just like when they participated in the Elorde UKC, staying in a friend’s house in Las Pinas to save for their trip home.