BAUTISTA OPENS BID FOR OLYMPIC BERTH AGAINST FORMER TWO-TIME SPANISH OLYMPIAN JOSE KEVIN LINARES
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 17 Jun 2016
Bautista (R).
Filipino flyweight Ian Clark Bautista opens his bid for a berth in the Rio Olympics when he takes on former two-time Spanish Olympian Jose Kevin Linares on Friday evening at the AIBA Olympic qualifying tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.
ABAP executive director Ed Picson said welterweight Eumir Felix Marcial who was seeded No. 1 drew a bye in the first round and will face the winner of the clash between Germany?s Abbas Baraou and New Zealand?s Josh Nyika on Saturday.
Baraou won the gold medal at the German Under 21 national championships in October 2014 win a 3-0 win over Olcay Simsek and in a Olympic-style competition against Canada, Baraou defeated Sasan Haghighat ? Joo and was among six of the eight German?s beat their Canadian opponents in the 23rd Annual Ken Goff Boxing Classic.
Josh Nyika lost to Syria?s Ahmad Gosson in the last 16 in the AIBA Asian qualifying tournament in China in a trip that was reportedly funded by the Ringside Gym and money had to be found once again to fund his trip to Azerbaijan. Josh was upbeat despite his defeat to Gosson and wrote on h is Facebook account ?sorry to say that I lost my second fight tonight against an aggressive Syrian fighter. It was a points decision loss and there are a lot of things we have noted down that can be improved in my game.?
He added, ?this is a tough game and the loss is a tough one to accept. But hey we don?t play with fire without expecting to get burnt from time to time. I?ll grow from this one t, without a doubt. There is potentially one more shot at qualification (in Azerbaijan? so don?t write me off just yet.?
Linares who is 29 years old was originally from the Dominican Republic before becoming a Spanish citizen in 2000.
Linares failed to qualify for the 2004 Olympics but won the bronze medal at the 2005 Mediterranean Games and was the only Spanish boxer to earn a berth in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 but lost to American southpaw Luis Yanez 9-12 in the opening round of the light flyweight competition.
Linares won a silver medal at the 2008 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England after losing in the finals to Armenia?s Hoyhannes Danielyan.
At the 2010 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Russia, Linares lost to Ireland?s talented Paddy Barnes in the semi finals.
He qualified for the 2012 London Olympics but was again beaten in the first round by Carlos Quipo of Ecuador.
Picson informed The Standard that Bautista needs four wins to qualify for the Rio Olympics while Marcial needs three and Picson and the coaching staff of Nolito ?Boy? Velasco and Romeo Brin are hoping that the young hopefuls deliver.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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