NESTHY PETECIO EARNS CRACK AT OLYMPIC BERTH
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 23 Apr 2012
Petecio.
It may be a tough battle to win but Filipina boxer Nesthy Petecio is determined to win a gold medal at the World Women?s Boxing Championships in Qinhuangdao, China from May 9-20 and earn a berth in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
In a catch-weight box-off with teammate Alice Kate Aparri at the ABAP Gym in the Rizal Memorial Complex on Saturday, the 20 year old Petecio banked on a big and aggressive fourth round to break away from a 4-4 tie on the scorecards of the five judges to win the bout.
ABAP executive director Ed Picson in an innovative move asked the ABAP coaches as well as a handful of journalists to also score the bout with 40 percent being given to the judges scores and 30 percent each for the scores of the coaches and media which, in the cumulative score gave Petecio and comfortable 24 to 17.5 victory margin.
After an even 2-2 opening round Petecio edged in front 4-3 at the end of the second round but Aparri came back to even the count at 4-4 going into the fourth and final round.
Petecio went after Aparri at the start of the fourth round and caught Aparri on the ropes with a flurry of punches which eventually sealed the win behind an 8-5 scorecard of the judges which was confirmed by the final tally which included the votes of national trainers and the media present.
With the flyweight division as one of the three slots for women in London, Petecio had to shed of four kilos in five days to make the catch-weight of 53 kilos for the box-off in which Aparri had to move up in weight since she is a recognized light flyweight. Petecio in fact had to shed off one kilogram three hours before the box-off and had to workout in the sweltering heat to make the weight and felt a little weak at the start of the fight.
Petecio was ranked No. 2 in the world in the super flyweight division by AIBA at one time while Alice Kate Aparri was ranked No. 3 flyweight.
Despite losing a chance to qualify for the Olympics the 27 year old Aparri will join Petecio at the World Championships in China although it would be in non-Olympic weight categories. Also joining the squad to China will be 25 year old Southeast Asian Games light flyweight gold medalist Josie Gabuco.
In a post fight interview a confident Petecio told the Manila Standard she was confident of winning in China and earning a crack at an Olympic gold medal in London.
Picson said he wanted both outstanding female boxers ?to show everybody ? referee-judges, national coaches, ABAP officials and even the media ? to prove their worth for the right to don the national colors in the Olympic qualifier."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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