FOUR COURAGEOUS FILIPINO BOXERS KEEP GOLD MEDAL HOPES ALIVE IN ASIAN GAMES
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 01 Oct 2014
Four courageous Pinoy boxers kept our gold medal hopes alive with rousing victories in the quarter finals of the Asian Games boxing competition at the Soonhak Gymnasium in Incheon, South Korea.
Light flyweight Mark Anthony Barriega, bantamweight Mario Fernandez and middleweight Wilfredo Lopez all won their bouts to join lightweight Charly Suarez who advanced to the semi finals on Monday with an impressive victory over Iraq?s rugged Amar Hassan.
Suarez put on a masterful display to score a unanimous decision despite being penalized a point in the second round for what seemed like a minor infraction of failing to keep his head up.
An overjoyed Suarez said after the win, ?this is for Boss Ricky,? referring to Amateur Boxing Alliance of the Philippines president Ricky Vargas who together with executive director Ed Picson and the quietly efficient coaching staff of Nolito ?Boy? Velasco, Roel Velasco and Romeo Brin have done a tremendous job in preparing our boxers for the tough Asian Games competition.
Buoyed by the success of our boxers all four of whom are assured at least of a bronze medal, Vargas took a flight to Incheon late Tuesday to provide moral support for the boxers after esteemed businessman-sportsman Manny Pangilinan, chairman of ABAP took heart from the boxers performance said ??Let?s go for four golds! Laban! (fight) Puso! (heart) Go!?
Vargas responded to the Pangilinan text which was forwarded to us saying, ?wala ng atrasan ito!? (no retreat).
Proceedings kicked off on Tuesday afternoon?s telecast over TV 5 with bantamweight Mario Fernandez avenging his loss to India?s talented Shiva Thapa at the 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships by scoring a superb unanimous decision win in an eagerly-awaited rematch.
Fernandez caught Thapa with perfectly timed counter-punches and put together solid combinations throughout the three rounds to dominate the hapless Indian fighter who had no answer to the measured aggression of the Filipino, a 21 year old product of a nationwide grassroots development program.
Thapa had coasted into the quarter finals, benefiting from a walkover in his opening bout against Leonel Helo Prada of Timor Leste and then being adjudged the winner over Nadir of Pakistan by a 1st round technical knockout at 1:05 when the Pakistani fighter was cut above the right eye and the ringside physician ruled Nadir was not fit to continue.
It is conceivable that Thapa?s easy route may have actually hurt him since he didn?t appear sharp and his timing was off while Fernandez who had two challenging encounters before facing Thapa was obviously sharp and his timing near perfect.
Two judges, Mohamed Braham of Tunisia and Nakchoon Baek of South Korea had Fernandez winning by a 30-27 shutout while the third judge also gave it to the Filipino by a 29-28 margin.
Light flyweight Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga continued to show his undoubted skill against Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan, using his hand-speed and excellent footwork to overwhelm the Uzbek fighter in the first two rounds before coasting to a well-deserved split decision victory.
Two judges, Kin Seog Won of South Korea abd Tony Germain of Canada had Barriga winning 29-28 while the third judge, Albino Foti of Italy inexplicably scored the fight for Dusmatov 29-28 on a day where there were several other questionable decision with fans at the venue booing to indicate their displeasure.
Barriga looked very much like a miniature version of ?Fighter of the Decade? Manny Pacquiao with his raopid-fire combinations, firing at Dusmatov from all angles and then deftly slipping out of range.
The surprise package so far has been middleweight Wilfredo Lopez who continued his giant-killing ways with a 1st round TKO victory over Mongolia?s Shinabayar Narmandakh who had earlier overpowered Almutauru Zaid of Kuwait but paid a heavy price when he suffered a nasty cut under his right eyebrow and the fight was stopped with 49 seconds remaining in the second round with Narmandakh declared winner by technical decision.
The strategy of Lopez fashioned out by his coaching staff was simple ? go after the cut which was bound to reopen and give Lopez a chance for a stoppage victory.
Lopez did exactly as told and peppered the right eyebrow of Narmandakh with stinging jabs and after he dropped the Mongolian who was also off balance with a left hook with over two minutes left in the opening round the cut began to bleed profusely and after the ringside physician took a look, he ruled that Narmandakh was in no position to continue and Lopez was awarded a TKO victory to cap an amazing run so far in the Asian Games.
After a rest day on Wednesday, action in the men?s semi finals will resume on Thursday with four Filipinos hoping to win and go for gold.
Photo: Wilfredo Lopez drops Mongolian opponent.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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