BARRIGA GETS OFF TO FLYING START IN WORLD BOXING CHAMPIONSHIPS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 27 Sep 2011
The littlest man on the Philippine team, Mark Anthony Barriga stood tall as he got off to a flying start in the World Boxing Championships at the Hayder Aliyev Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan beating fancied Stefan Caslarov of Romania 12-5.
Barriga who is below five feet stuck to his fight plan of throwing quick and accurate combinations against Caslarov who tried his best to frustrate the 18 year old Filipino by his tactics pushing and shoving which didn?t work.
Delegation head and Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines executive director Ed Picson said that on his way back with his teammates after the fight a beaming Barriga beamed "Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!" paraphrasing the great heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali.
According to Picson, Barriga said ?he had to punch the other guy harder because "masakit din pala siya sumuntok" (his punches also hurt).?
Caslarov who competed in the 2010 International Youth tournament in Ukraine lost to eventual gold medalist Salman Alizada of Azerbaijan and was also ousted in the second round of the AIBA Youth World Championships.
Barriga who hails from Panabo, Davao del Norte raced to a comfortable 6-2 lead at the end of the first round and pulled away 9-3 in the second before wrapping up his first win 12-5.
The 6-man National Boxing Team had unexpected help in the cheering department as 5 female and 2 male Filipinos who work in Baku showed up to give support. They shouted themselves hoarse in cheering Barriga.
Up next with be 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games gold medalist Rey Saludar who battles Canada?s Tanjit Lally in his opening bout in the flyweight division. He will be followed by Qatar 2006 Asian Games gold medalist Joan Tipon who clashes with talented Alberto Melian of Argentina in a bantamweight showdown.
Multi-titled lightweight Charly Suarez enters the ring in Baku on October 1 against Ecuador?s Luiz Porozo while light welterweight Rolando Tacuyan faces Mehdi Toloutibandpi of Iran the day before.
The Philippines heaviest contender, welterweight Delfin Boholst sees action on Thursday against Stephen Danyo of the Netherlands.
Rolando Tacuyan will have his debut fight on September 30 against Mehdi Toloutibandpi of Iran and the last to see action for the Filipinos will be Charly Suarez on October 1 in his lightweight match against Ecuadorian Luis Porozo.
Barriga's second bout will be on October 3 against 8th seed Patrick Barnes of Ireland who twice faced China?s 2010 Olympic gold medalist and world champion Zou Shiming and lost.
Barnes lost 15-0 to Zou in the Olympic Games semi finals and won a bronze medal. In the 2007 AIBA World Championships in Chicago, Barnes failed rto win a bronze medal when he lost 22-8 to Zou in the quarter finals although he did have several impressive wins prior to meeting the skilled Chinese.
He won 33-19 over North Korea?s Choi Jon Chuk then beat Sadegh Zade Faraj of Iran when the referee stopped contest with Barnes up 30-10. He followed this up with a 24-6 pumelling of Japan?s Kenji Ohkubo in the round of 16.
In the Olympics round of 16 Barnes beat Jose Luis Meza Ochoa of Ecuador 8-0 and in the quarter finals ousted Poland?s Lukasz Maszczyk 5-0.
Barnes won the light flyweight title in the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India in 2010 defeating Jafet Uutoni of Namibia 8-4 in the finals.
In the AIBA World Championships in Milan in 2009, Barnes was beaten 15-4 by Kenya?s classy Peter Mungai.
Barnes faced a possible ban at the time when he vented his fury on the crowd as well as the officials after the lopsided loss and was sent home from the World Championships under a cloud.
Barnes won the gold medal at the 2010 European Championships beating Azerbaijan?s Elvin Mamishzade 4-1.
Barriga is coming off a stunning upset of hometown favorite Shahobiddin Zoirov 4-1 to win the gold medal in the Sydney Jackson Memorial tournament in Uzbekistan last May.
In the last AIBA World Youth Championships Barriga lost to Barnes? teammate Ryan Burnett 6-4 in the quarter finals after beating China?s Liang Zhang 7-3, Tanes Ongjunta of Thailand 15-5 and Nikita Fedorchenko of Russia in the round of 16, 3-1.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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