AUSTRALIAN boxing coach Don Abnett, who played a key role in the most successful Philippine campaign in the last Tokyo Olympic Games, will remain as a consultant of the boxing association under newly-elected president Ed Picson.
“We need to change the outlook of coaching. The coaching development program has to be energized and systematized. We’re still optimistic about this because we still have Dan Abnett, who will help us do that,” Picson said in the Philippine Sportswriters Association online forum last Tuesday.
Abnett is largely credited for the outstanding performance in the last Tokyo Olympics of the Filipino boxers, who brought home two silver medals courtesy of flyweight Carlo Paalam and flyweight Nesthy Petecio and a bronze from middleweight Felix Eumir Marcial.
All three fighters were rookies in the quadrennial sports showcase.
As the new president of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines, Picson said that he is grateful the Philippine Sports Commission “in principle” has agreed to extend the contract of Abnett.
