Villegas presses on with Olympic boxing bid vs ex-sparmate

MANILA, Philippines -- Facing a familiar foe, Filipina boxer Aira Villegas will be preparing hard in the next round of the women’s 50 kilogram boxing competition of the Paris Olympics.

Villegas will be facing Algeria’s Roumaysa Boualam in the round of 16 on early Friday morning (Manila time), after securing a unanimous decision victory over Morocco’s Yasmine Mouttaki early Monday.

In an interview posted by One Sports after her the 28-year-old Filipina, said that they have previously sparred against each other.

Despite the familiarity, Villegas said that competing in the Olympic stage with the quarterfinal round at stake is vastly different.

“Yung susunod na kalaban, actually naka-sparring ko siya. Siyempre, iba yung sabi ko nga, sa sparring, iba yung sparring sa laro. Magkaiba talaga yung galaw,” she said.

“Nakita niyo po ako paano maglaro sa sparring and sa laro po mismo, iba pa. So kailangan po nating pag-aralan and then training ulit,” she added.

Boualam is also the no. 2 seed of the weight class.

Whoever wins in their bout will face either France’s Wassila Lkhadiri or Ireland’s Daina Moorehouse.

In the same interview, Villegas said that she was bent on winning against Mouttaki to avenge her first-round loss in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.

While she admitted to have struggled at the start of the bout, when she got her rhythm and landed clean punches, it just went on and on.

“Boost din po siya para sa mga susunod na maglalaro po na susunod sa akin para sobrang… ano sa akin, sa opening po, pinanalo natin.”