Salazar fights for gold in Asian meet

SEREMBAN, Malaysia – Two Filipino boxers blazed their way into the finals of the Asian Amateur Boxing Championship on Monday but only one between the two brilliant sons of poor parents from Negros was given the nod to go for the gold medal.

The lucky guy was light flyweight Lhyven Salazar, a sweet-punching sidewalk vendor’s son from Bacolod who outclassed Myanmar’s Kyaw Swar Aung to arrange a gold medal duel yesterday with peppery Hong Moo Won of South Korea.

Salazar, 23, was a delight to watch as he dominated his shorter and visibly inexperienced foe en route to a 35-14 victory.

Salazar’s masterful display was next surpassed by bantamweight Ferdie Gamo, who clearly battered and outpunched favored Khidirov Bekzod of Uzbekistan for four solid rounds.

But, to the dismay of the RP delegation and the sparse Malay crowd at the Paroi Stadium, the hand of the humbled Uzbek was raised by the Indon referee.

The score was 20-15 in favor of the Uzbek.

The fight was not even close and Gamo, the underdog from Bago City, who had put up the most sensational fight from the eight-man Team Caltex, cried on the way to the dugout.

He was later approached by the Uzbek whom he had manhandled to apologize for the decision.

Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines president Manny Lopez bared that the Uzbek team manager also acknowledged their fighter had been beaten but that they could not do anything about the scoring.

In yesterday’s finals of the tournament participated in by 29 countries and ranked as high as the Asian Games, Salazar, gold medalist in Acropolis and Bosnia, was given an even chance against Won, a two-fisted attacker who thrives on pressure.