For many aspiring Filipino fighters, the sport of boxing is considered a pathway out of poverty but for every Manny Pacquiao there are thousands who fall short of forging a professional career.
One Filipino fighter living in Melbourne has overcome extraordinary hurdles and now – with the help of a new trainer – is working to achieve a life-long goal.
Difficult road
Czar Amonsot grew up in Tagbilaran City in the Philippines province of Bohol.
He said he often went hungry and his mother was forced to raise nine children alone.
"My father died when I was young, so it was very hard for us to live. That's why I chose my life to be a boxer as well to help my family," Amonsot said.
But Amonsot’s dream was never as simple as just turning professional. Since his first fight at 15, ambition was clear and lofty.
"My father died when I was young, so it was very hard for us to live. That's why I chose my life to be a boxer as well to help my family."
"My dream in boxing is to be a world champion, that's all keeps me going in boxing," he said. "I [will] become a world champion one day."
In 2007, Amonsot came agonisingly close to achieving his dream, participating in a world-title bout against undefeated Australian, Michael Katsidis.
The fight, for an interim WBO title in Las Vegas, is widely considered one of the weight division’s most brutal. But Amonsot lost on points after 12 gruelling rounds.
Ray Giles and Czar Amonsot Source: SBS
'We just ate chicken bones'
Amonsot feared his title dream may have passed him by, so when offered a chance to come to Australia, he jumped at it.
But he said the offer was misrepresented and that he had his passport confiscated by the promoter and was forced to live in a garage with other fighters.
“We just ate chicken bones, we just ate leftovers,” he said. “They didn't feed us very well you know, they treat[ed] us like a slave in the house.”
"My dream in boxing is to be a world champion, that's all keeps me going in boxing."
Amonsot managed to remove himself from the situation, and when veteran Melbourne trainer Ray Giles was offered a chance to train the junior welterweight, he jumped at it.
"I'm sickened by what happened to that boy," Giles said. "He’s a beautiful young man, [the] most respectful boy you'd ever meet in your life.
"I tell him to call me 'Ray' - he calls me coach - we regard him as one of our family."
And the veteran is adamant Amonsot has what it takes to achieve his goal.
"I've been in this game a long time and you know when the kid's got that 'x-factor' and he's got it. I believe the kid could be easily a world-title holder."
"He’s a beautiful young man, [the] most respectful boy you'd ever meet in your life."
And the fighter says his life is very different under the care of Giles.
"I respect him just like my father," he said.
Each day, the pair works tirelessly toward the common title goal in a combat gym in Melbourne’s southeast. It’s a goal Giles said would mean so much on so many levels.
"It'd be the culmination of my career to see someone who comes from an extremely impoverished background to reach the highest level in boxing," Giles said. 'If anybody deserves it, he does.”
