FIERY FERNANDEZ AND THE FEISTY PHIL SEAG BOXING SQUAD
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 10 Jun 2015
Mario Fernandez.
It was not the eight gold medal haul that we were waiting for but the Philippine amateur boxing team delivered with five and gave our medal tally a much needed boost in the ongoing 28th Southeast Asian Games competitions in Singapore.
Light flyweight Josie Gabuco reaffirmed her status as the best female boxer in this region when she beat Thai Raksat Chuthamat 3-0. Gabuco is also a former AIBA world amateur women?s champion, winning the title in 2012.
But it was the dazzling hand speed and counterpunching of bantamweight Mario Fernandez that grabbed my attention. His first televised bout was in the quarterfinals against Tran Phu Cuong of Vietnam and Fernandez showcased his exquisite combinations, counterpunching and lateral movement.
Fernandez settled for a bronze in last year?s Asian Games, losing to China?s Zhang Jiawei on points. But his SEAG performance was the best that I have seen from him. In the gold medal match against Thailand's Ongjunta Tanes, Fernandez fired a picture perfect left hook that dropped the Thai in the opening round.
Fernandez also showed poise when Tanes tackled him with a Muay Thai-like takedown move. In the third, another beautiful counter left hook sent the Thai to the canvas and the referee stepped in to halt the bout. Fernandez was also devastating in the semis against Myanmar's Latt Naing.
Eumir Felix Marcial's knockout win in the welterweight finals over Tay Jia Wei of Singapore was a mere formality. Marcial is a former AIBA Junior World Boxing Champion; he was the first Filipino boxer to accomplish the feat in 2011.
There was cause for worry when Irish Magno and Nesthy Petecio settled for silver when they lost against Vietnamese foes and Rogen Ladon also bowed to Kornelis Langu of Indonesia in men?s light flyweight finals. But a charging Ian Clark Bautista got us back into the win column and another gold against Hamid Mohamed Hanurdeen of Singapore and Junel Cantancio also won gold against Nguyen Van Hai of Vietnam.
Bautista was a victim of questionable judging during the last Asian Games. This is something that our coaches and officials will have to deal with during the next Olympic qualifying tournaments for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Our first Olympic gold remains elusive. Maybe one member of this SEA Games team will make history next year.
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