THREE PINOYS PUNCH THEIR WAY TO CHINA OPEN BOXING FINALS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 22 Jun 2013
Three Pinoy boxers punched their way into the finals of the tough China Open Boxing Championships in Guiyang.
27 year old lightweight Junel Cantancio from the well-known Cantacio boxing clan upset host China?s Wang Bo in the semi finals and will
Cantancio who is nicknamed "Unli" for his seemingly boundless pressured Wang Bo from the opening bell resulting in all three judges scoring every round on the new 10-point must scoring system for the Filipino who won on the scorecards of the judges who turned in identical 30-27 scorecards.
However, the win of Cantancio was overtaken by the disappointing loss of 2012 London Olympian light flyweight Anthony Bariga who dropped a unanimous but fairly close decision to Guiyang?s hometown boy Wu Zhonglin.
Wu ended up with a 30-27 shutout on one scorecard but eked out a 29-28 margin on the other two.
A report from Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines executive director Ed Picson said ?the pint-sized Barriga took too much time trying to figure out his opponent and lost precious ground in the process. He shifted to his usual slick style in the third round but by then, Wu had already taken a commanding lead.? Barriga who wins a bronze medal dislocated his left thumb after connecting with an uppercut in the third round and had to be taken to a hospital for .treatment.
Picson noted that Barriga and other Filipino boxers need to be more conscious of the nuances of the scoring system. He said "They need to know how to adjust their game to the system. We had a lengthy meeting after the fights this afternoon with the coaches and boxers to explain to them in more detail what they need to do to take advantage of the new rule."
The country?s female boxers put on an outstanding performance with Josie Gabuco and Nesty Petecio entering the finals on big wins.
World champion Gabuco who is No. 2 in the AIBA world rankings faces China?s Xu Shiqi, the same boxer she beat in the finals of the world championships in Qinhuangdao, China last year in a battle for the gold medal.
Gabuco remarked "I know she is out to avenge that loss, so I'm prepared for her."
The talented Gabuco pulled off a stunning upset when she beat London silver medalist and 3-time world champion Ren Cancan in the semis last Wednesday. Ren Cancan was ranked No. 2 in the higher weight division.
Petecio will have lanky Alexis Pritchard of New Zealand to contend with in the lightweight gold medal face off with Pritchard some six inches taller than Petecio.
But the brave Filipino took it in stride simply stating "I'm used to fighting girls that tall."
ABAP president Ricky Vargas conveyed his pleasure at having three boxers in the finals of a tough tournament but said "let's work at getting more next time."
In thirteen finals bouts on Friday, Chinese boxers were to figure are in nine of them. In two weight categories ? the men's flyweight and bantamweight, the gold will be contested by boxers from the host country.A total of eight nations and 90 boxers are represented at the China Open.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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