Before the Pambansang Kamao, there was Anthony Villanueva. On October 21, 1964, Anthony Villanueva, a Filipino amateur boxer, won the silver medal after competing in the featherweight division (57 kilograms) of the 1964 Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. Villanueva was the first Filipino to win an Olympic silver medal. He missed the gold in this olympics after losing a controversial final gold medal match against Stanislav Stepashkin of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The toast of Philippine sports at that time, Villanueva embarked on a short professional boxing career and starred in a few movies. He went to the United States and returned to the country in 1988. Villanueva had tough times and tried to sell his Olympic silver medal a few times but the prospective buyers refused. His silver medal is in the Philippine Sports Commissions museum.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 11:33:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015