ACHIEVEMENTS

Olympics

• 1992 Barcelona Light Flyweight – Bronze

World Amateur Championships

• 1997 Budapest Light Flyweight – Silver

Asian Amateur Boxing Championships

• 1992 Bangkok Light Flyweight – Gold

Goodwill Games

• 1998 New York Light Flyweight – Bronze

Muhamad Ali Invitational Boxing Championships

1997 Kentucky Light Flyweight – Gold

Southeast Asia Games

1989 Malaysia – Bronze

Hall of Fame

2021 – Philippine Sports Hall of Fame Inductee

BIOGRAPHY

Born on June 26, 1969, Olympic boxer from Bago, Negros Occidental, Roel Velasco did not expect to live a life as one of the country’s boxing elites.

Coming from a family of prominent boxers, Roel Velasco officially became a member of the Philippine Men’s Boxing Team in 1988. Not more than a year later, at the age of 20, he bagged the bronze medal at the 1989 Southeast Asia Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

He then ruled the Olympic qualifier, when he topped the 1992 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships, in Bangkok, Thailand. With this successful stint under his belt, he did not miss the opportunity given to him to participate in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games in Spain and punched through ranks, earning the country its bronze finish at the Men’s Light Flyweight division.

Fit for an Olympic medalist, former Manila Mayor and then President of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) Gemiliano “Mel” Lopez, Jr. organized a heroes welcome for Roel after his great feat.

That was not the last of Roel as he brought home the 1997 World Amateur Boxing Championships silver medal, and also became the first Filipino to ever snatch a medal at the light-flyweight division in the 1998 New York Goodwill Games with a bronze.

In 1999, Velasco retired as a national athlete and officially joined the ABAP national coaching staff two years later.

In 2021, Velasco was inducted into the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame.