ANOTHER HEARTBREAK AS MARCIAL LOSES BY SPLIT DECISION
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 18 Jun 2016
Marcial.
The Philippines suffered another heartbreak at the AIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan when welterweight Eumir Felix Marcial the last man standing dropped a split decision to Germany's Abbas Baraou who had earlier dominated New Zealand?s Josh Nyika to win by a 2nd round stoppage after flyweight Ian Clark Bautista lost in his bid for a berth in the Rio Olympics when he lost a close 29-28 points decision to former two-time Spanish Olympian Jose Kevin Linares on Friday evening.
Eumir Felix Marcial who was seeded No.1 and drew a bye in the first round was the country?s last hope for an Olympic berth when he faced Germany?s hard-hitting Abbas Baraou.
ABAP executive director Ed Picson told The Standard that one judge gave Marcial the first two rounds while the two other judges scored the fight for the German.
Picson said "Marcial clearly lost the fight" and failed to follow instructions by trying to slug it out with his German opponent instead of fighting at a distance and lost the crucial third round which was somewhat one-sided.
Picson said that Bautista "fought a good fight? against the 29 year old Spanish Olympian but the judges only gave the Filipino boxer the third round.
However, Picson said he and the coaching staff of Nonito ?Boy? Velasco and Romeo Brin ?thought he won rounds two and three but it was really close.?
Marcial?s opponent Baraou won the gold medal at the German Under 21 national championships in October 2014 with a 3-0 win over Olcay Simsek and in a Olympic-style competition against Canada, Baraou defeated Sasan Haghighat Joo was among six of the eight German?s who beat their Canadian opponents in the 23rd Annual Ken Goff Boxing Classic.
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 ofthe light flyweight competition.
Linares won a silver medal at the 2008 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England after losing 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.
The country?s hopes are now anchored on light flyweight Rogen Ladon and lightweight Charly Suarez who qualified in the last tournament in China by winning silver medals and are now deep in training in Las Vegas under the watchful eye of ?Dodong? Donaire, trainer/father of five division world champion Nonito ?The Fiipino Flash? Donaire.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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