SUAREZ LOSES HEARTBREAKER IN BATTLE FOR GOLD AND AN OLYMPIC BERTH
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 12 Apr 2012
Charly Suarez.
Lightweight Charly Suarez fell short in his quest for for a gold medal and a berth in the London Olympics later this year when he lost a 15-11 decision to China?s veteran Asian Championship silver medalist Qiang Liu in the finals of the AIBA Asian Olympic qualifying event in Astana, Kazakhstan yesterday.
The AIBA commentators said ?it was not a popular decision with the crowd? who booed lustily as the 23 year old Suarez appeared to dominate the third and final round when he nailed Liu with stinging left jabs and right hooks and bloodied the nose of the Chinese who was also given a standing eight-count as Suarez fought desperately to overcome a four point deficit entering the final round.
Liu who was much taller than Suarez used his reach advantage from a southpaw stance to jab and dance away and kept Suarez at bay to take the first round 3-1 and the second 5-3.
Suarez caught Liu with some good body shots but Liu broke the Filipino?s momentum when the action was stopped so the Chinese could have the laces of his boxing boots tied.
A good counter and the right to the chin by Suarez saw Liu grab and back-pedal but Suarez was guilty of a low blow which forced the referee to give the Chinese boxer time to recover. When the action resumed Suarez connected with a good left but as the AIBA TV commentators noted ?you could see the frustration? on the Filipino?s face.
Cheered on by the crowd who kept chanting ?Charly, Charly? Suarez launched an all out attack in the third round starting off with two good combinations of a left jab and a right hook which the commentators said were ?wonderfully effective.?
Liu received a standing eight-count from referee Rovshan Huseynoy of Azerbijan and the ring doctor took a look at his bloodied nose which again stalled the aggressive Suarez as the AIBA television commentators posed the question, ?did he do enough to win? and remarked ?why didn?t he fight this way in the first two rounds.?
Despite his clear domination of the third round the judges scored it even at 7-7 raising serious questions about their fairness.
The heartbreaking loss of Suarez means the Philippines will have only one boxer in the London Olympics in light flyweight Mark Anthony Barriga.
ABAP president Ricky Vargas said he was ?very sad for Charly and our country. Charly did his best and performed very well.?
Vargas noted that ?when it's tight we are not as powerful as other countries? even as he revealed that he had met with AIBA president Wu and was assured that there was no such thing as bad decisions and there was no way there could be cheating.
The ABAP president said the remarkable improvement of Suarez was a result of his stint for the Mumbai Fighters of India in the World Series of Boxing where he performed exceptionally well even as Vargas noted that India had some 600 national boxers and have had seven fighters qualify for the London Olympics.
Suarez was regarded as the favorite by boxing fans in Kazakhstan after he scored another spectacular win over two-time Japanese national champion Daisuke Narimatsu in the semi finals 24-11. Suarez narrowly edged Narimatsu in the opening round 4-3 but soon established his superior skills to take the second round by a 9-5 margin that gave the multi-titled Filipino a 13-8 lead entering the third and final round.
Suarez used his hand-speed and excellent movement to rip Narimatsu in the third round which Suarez dominated to win 11-3 and score a widely applauded 24-11 victory to the delight of Kazakhstan fans who have christened Suarez the ?Bombay Tiger.?
AIBA reported that Suarez ?grew in confidence to put one of his best performances so far in the competition.?
Prior to the bout Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines president Ricky Vargas who is in Kazakhstan told the Manila Standard that he saw Liu fight and believes ?we have a good chance, everything being equal.? Vargas added ?we are hoping and praying for the gold? which will make Suarez the second Filipino boxer to qualify for the Olympics, the other being light flyweight Mark Anthony Barriaga.
ABAP chairman and eminent businessman-sportsman Manny Pangilinan sent Suarez a message through ABAP executive director Ed Picson saying, ?Gusto ko siyang manalo para sa kanya at sa bayan. Prayers and good luck mamaya. Taos puso kaming nagdarasal ditto. Regards to all out other boxers. There will be a next time for them.?
ABAP executive director Ed Picson said Suarez thanked the country?s pre-eminent sports patron Pangilinan and added ?he?s ready and focused. He?ll give it his all.?
Suarez had earned the semi final clash with Narimatsu following a spectacular 14-5 victory over Abdlay Uulu Anarbay of Kyrzgystan who was a bronze medalist in the last Asian Championships.
Even the AIBA website hailed the victory of Suarez in a banner story which read ?Suarez delights crowds with electric performance.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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