Payla enters finals

WARSAW, Poland — They have the same initials, share the same room here and serve the Armed Forces back home. But Violito Payla and Vincent Palicte’s similarities end there.

For Payla punched his way to the flyweight finals in the Feliks Stamm International Boxing Championships Friday night, beating Sebastian Gouthier of Canada with a decisive 26-8 win that should become a cause of concern for the hosts who seemed to have perfected the art of winning in prizefighting.

The Polish boxers booked eight of 12 finals berths, a highly-impressive feat considering the toughness of the field. That included the bantamweight class where Andrei Liczik literally ran away with a 26-9 romp over Palicte.

"Hindi ko nga alam saan nila kinuha yung score dahil konti lang ang tama sa akin," rued Palicte, grossly upset over the outcome since he knew he had landed solid punches as many as he took them.

"Dehado nga tayo sa laban pero hindi naman ganon kalaki ang lamang," said coach Pat Gaspi. The other RP mentor, George Caliwan, and team leader Atty. Liberato Reyna, could only shake their heads in disbelief.

A Polish bet likewise washed away featherweight Roel Laguna’s dream of crashing into the championship round as Krzysztof Szot came away with a 24-9 rout in the morning semis match.

Team Caltex Philippines, thus settled for two bronze medals with the diminutive but hard-punching Payla looming big as a gold medal potential with his world class skill and fighting style that impressed most of the coaches here.

Getting tougher as the going gets rough, Payla cut the taller Gouthier down to size with his probing right, stinging hooks and devastating left straights. He dominated the first round, controlled the next with 1-2 combinations then sent the Canadian reeling in a neutral corner 1:32 in the third with a crushing straight for the mandatory 8-count.