ALL but one of five Filipino boxers advanced to the quarterfinals of the Asian-Oceanian Olympic Qualifying Event currently being held at the massive Tangshan Jiujiang Sports Center in Qian’An in China’s Hebei Province.
Eumir Felix Marcial, seeded No. 1 in the welterweight class, lived up to his billing as he won by technical knockout over Australia’s Kori Istafanos in the third and last round.
The Aussie, actually a transplanted Sudanese, looked intimidating with his stocky, muscular built. But he seemed aware and weary of Marcial’s power and skill.
Istafanos was content with running around to keep out of harm’s way. Marcial however, caught up with him several times and unloaded power bombs. The Hungarian lady referee Veronika Szuchs issued two standing eight counts in the third round and stopped the fight after the second count.
Another top seed, Rogen Ladon in the light-flyweight division, a bronze medalist in the World Championships in Doha last year, had his hands full against his Japan’s Tosho Kashiwasaki. The Bago City native had to eke out a 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 decision.
Bantamweight Mario Fernandez, a back-to-back Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, proved too much for Turkmenistan’s Yakub Meredov whom he jolted time and again with left-right combinations. The three judges all scored the match 30-27 for the Bukidnon Air Force man.
The only damper in the Philippine schedule was Roldan Boncales’s loss to Oizhas Sattibayev of Kazakhstan (No. 4 seed) in the flyweight division. It was a close, exciting fight between two speedy fighters, and the judges found the Kazakh as the winner by scores of 29-28 twice and 30-27. Boncales won his first assignment against a Vietnamese last Friday.
The Tuesday quarterfinals will see the five remaining RP boxers in action—Ladon vs. Al-Kaabi (Iraq), Fernandez vs. Alwadi (Jordan), Charly Suarez vs. Dheeraj (India), Marcial vs. Kazemzadehposhtiri (Iran) and Nesthy Petecio vs. 5-time world champion Mery Kom Hmangte of India.
The top 3 boxers in the men’s division and the top 2 in the women’s class will book tickets to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.