Pinays cited for wrong reasons
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 10 Jan 2025
Aira Villegas (L) and Nesthy Petecio (R).
Paris Olympic bronze medalists Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas were cited in a recap of the women’s boxing event in last year’s Summer Games but for the wrong reasons. Petecio was recognized for battling Julia Szeremeta of Poland in a rousing climax of their featherweight semifinal bout only she lost via a 4-1 decision. The third frame was named the Best Round of women’s boxing in Paris by the London weekly publication Boxing News. Villegas, on the other hand, was noted for taking the Best Punch of the women’s competition from Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey, a picture-perfect right uppercut that found her chin and drew a collective roar from the crowd in the venue.
Petecio and Villegas joined gymnast Carlos Yulo as the Philippines’ only podium placers in Paris. While they deserved credit for their efforts, the “dark” consolation was both fighters were singled out for contributing to the moments of their opponents’ glory. At least, they were noticed.
Here’s the account of the Best Round: “Notes about Szeremeta read ‘flashy,’ ‘patient’ and ‘punch-picker’ until the third round. With a place in the final at stake, she reinvented herself as an all-action, front-foot fighter. Szeremeta recovered from losing the opening round on all five scorecards to set up a decider and then, stood toe-to-toe with the heavy-handed Filipino southpaw, out-brawled her, forced her to give ground and won the round on all five cards.” Boxing News called it “one of the best women’s bouts of Paris 2024 (as Szeremeta) ditched her flashy punch-picking style to tie the bout on four cards going into the last and then edged the exchanges in a thrilling final three minutes to win it in what was a fair upset.”
Szeremeta, 12 years younger, scored an unexpected reversal over Petecio who bagged a silver in the previous Olympics. Petecio, 32, had won three straight bouts before running into the Polish fighter, defeating India’s Jaismine Lamboria (5-0), France’s Amina Zidani (4-1) and China’s Xu Zichun (5-0).
In Villegas’ case, she was totally overwhelmed by Cakiroglu and took a standing eight-count in the first round. Here’s the account of the Best Punch: “Behind on the cards, Villegas went for Cakiroglu at the start of the third. The Turkish southpaw tightened her defenses and waited. When the opening was there, she placed a right hook behind Villegas’ elbow that set up her next punch, a scorching right uppercut that landed under the Filipino’s chin. The punch sent a chorus of “ooooohs” around Roland Garros Stadium.”
Villegas, making her Olympic debut, advanced to the semis after beating Morocco’s Yasmine Moutaqui (5-0), Algeria’s Roumaysa Boualam (5-0) and France’s Wassila Lkhadiri (3-2).
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Joaquin Henson.
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