TANAMOR IN SPECTACULAR WIN
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 02 Nov 2007
Veteran Olympian Harry Tanamor lived up to his true potential with a spectacular 17-7 win over highly fancied American Luis Yanez to move into the semi finals of the World Boxing Championships at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion in Chicago, yesterday.
Tanamor who had earlier clinched an Olympic berth and will lead the Philippines quest for a coveted first gold medal in Beijing next year will face Thailand?s tough Amnat Ruenroeng who also scored a lopsided 18-6 win over Hovhannes Danelyan of Armenia.
Unlike his quarter finals bout against old foe Sherali Dostiev when he started off cautiously, Tanamor immediately went on the offensive to claim an early lead and simply refused to back-off until the final bell. After taking the first round comfortably 6-2 Tanamor used his experience and skill against the hard-hitting Yanez to open up a seven point lead, 12-5, at the halfway mark.
Yanez, the Pan Asian Games gold medalist who was considered the best prospect on the US team for a gold medal in Beijing tried to pressure Tanamor in an effort to set up his vaunted power shots but the shifty Filipino stayed out of range and moving into the final round enjoyed a 15-6 lead. The American who had won an RSC (Referee Stops Contest) in the quarter finals after his Australian opponent Stephen Sutherland was given three standing eight counts in round two came charging out of his corner in the final round but Tanamor never stopped circling the ring to win and set himself up for what is certain to be a terrific battle against Amnat.
Yanez said he ?didn?t expect him (Tanamor) to come out there like that.? When told by his corner that he was down by five points at the end of round one Yanez said he didn?t feel he was down by that much, adding ?I guess the judges saw some things differently than what I saw in there.?
Amnat who is fighting in his first major international tournament after replacing Thai veteran Suban Pannom is a former prisoner who has made tremendous progress since he first represented Thailand in the King?s Cup earlier this year where he defeated Asian Games champion Zou Shi Ming of China who was a bronze medalist in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Tanamor clinched his third successive trip to the Olympics with a tiebreaker win in the quarter finals where his aggressiveness in the final round earned him the nod of the judges. Tanamor represented the Philippines at both the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympic Games where he was picked by the prestigious Sports Illustrated magazine to enter the medal round but failed, losing to South Korea?s Hong Moo Won in the round of sixteen.
A two-time bronze medal winner at the World Championships in Ireland in 2001 and Thailand in 2003, Tanamor who was dropped from the Doha Asian Games squad in 2004 for disciplinary reasons put on his best performance against Yanez.
The 5'3", 19 year old Yanez won a silver medal at the Cadet World Championships and a gold medal at the Junior Olympic International Invitational. He was also the 2007 and 2006 National Golden Gloves champion.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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