Zambales, Lerio go for boxing golds

KUALA LUMPUR (Via Globe Telecoms) – Arlan Lerio and Ramil Zambales hope to regain some measure of respect for the Philippine boxing squad which was allegedly getting raw deals early in the week when the two fighters from Team Caltex Philippines climb the ring in the SEA Games boxing finals at the Serimban Center Court today.

Lerio goes for the bantamweight championship against Thai Chotipat Wongprates while Zambales seeks the featherweight title against another Thai rival Sutthisak Samaksaman.

Amateur Boxing Assocation of the Philippines president Manny Lopez said both Lerio and Zambales have a chance to win the gold if the judges will be fair in scoring.

Lopez, on Thursday, broke his silence, alleging that "there are some countries that have joined forces with a deliberate effort to bring us (the Philippine team) down."

He made this charge in the aftermath of the Philippines’ bleak campaign in teh semifinal round where only two of seven Filipino pugs emerged triumphant with one, Zambales, on a no-show by his rival.

"It’s been so intense that there are some moneyed and influential individuals who are behind this whom I won’t mention right now," he said. "Sobrang garapalan."

But Lopez seemed to have put aside his ill feelings, saying his two remaining wards will die for flag and country when they go up in the finals.

Lerio and Zambales are hard-pressed to win. Their failure will have the Philippine boxing team going home from SEAG wars without a single gold to show for the first time ever.

Both are facing formidable foes. Wongprates is a young upstart with a stint in the last world championship in Houston, Texas while Samaksaman is a grizzled veteran out to retain the featherweight crown in this meet.

Lerio, silver medalist in the flyweight division in Brunei, advanced to the finals with victories over Indonesian Dufri Masihor and Myanmar’s Aung Tun Lin while Zambales reached the finals without climbing the ring, taking a first-round bye and pulling off a walkover win over Laos’ Tanovahn Nilondone in the semis.

Thailand sent all its 11 bets into the finals while Malaysia advanced six.