RP fighter off to rousing start

BANGKOK – Florencio Ferrer stopped his rival late Sunday night to open the RP Revicon Team’s bid in the World Amateur Boxing Championships on a high note here at the Bari Stadium.

The 20-year-old Ferrer, campaigning in the welterweight division, needed just three minutes to send Herdey Anak packing as he literally made a punching bag of the Brunei native from the onset, forcing the referee to stop the contest halfway through the second round and give the Cadiz City native an RSC-O (Referee Stops Contest-Outclassed) verdict.

Amateur bouts, under the rules of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) consist of four two-minute rounds.

"This is a good omen. Florencio’s victory gave the RP Revicon Team a head-start in this very tough tournament. I hope this rubs on the other guys, they are in their best conditions and the morale is very high," stated Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president and Federation of Asian Amateur Boxing (FAAB) secretary-general Manny Lopez, the delegation head. Other members of the squad, sent in this biennial championships by Revicon, Pacific Heights, the Philippine Sports Commission and outfitted by Accel, are light flyweight Harry Tanamor, flyweight Violito Payla, bantamweight Arlan Lerio and featherweight Joegen Ladon. Coaches are George Caliwan and Boy Velasco, while Roger Fortaleza is the referee/judge.

Ferrer goes for a third round berth today when he battles a Romanian pug in the two-session, two-rung championships that attracted 380 boxers from 64 nations.

Payla and Ladon also see action in the opening bouts of their weight divisions today against a Ukranian and a Frenchman, respectively.

BANGKOK — A chaotic, sometimes farcical, opening day of boxing’s World Amateur Championships had several coaches fuming with organisers on Sunday.

A scrum of coaches jostled for copies of the first-day programme just minutes before the opening bouts were due in the ring, resulting in several boxers being unprepared mentally for their fights.

The public scoring system, introduced to ensure transparency in the often-criticised judging process, broke down during the first of 64 bouts in two rings leaving boxers and coaches in the dark about how they were faring.

The early fights in one of the rings went ahead without the traditional bell signalling the start and finish of the two-minute rounds, an announcer declaring when each round was finished.

Organisers introduced a hand-operated bell but that clashed with the bell in the other ring, causing confusion amongst the contestants.

One coach shouted at Thai organisers as they used the arena’s sole photocopier to run off the schedule just minutes before the first fight was due to begin.

"This is ridiculous - how can I prepare my boxers?," shouted one coach, who later asked not to be named. "How can you just have one photo copier - we need to know when our boxers are in the ring."

Ireland head coach Harry Hawkins, who sat patiently waiting for the schedule to be run off, explained later that it was far from ideal for his boxers.

"I knew that the 48kg (light flyweight) division was first up but I did not know when my guy was in the ring. As it turned out he was first to box - it was not the ideal start," he said.

Seventeen-year-old Conor Ahern looked a bit dazed as he was beaten on points by South Korea’s Hong Moo-won.

"To tell you the truth the boy was not really that worried (that he did not know he was on first until minutes before the bout). He is just 17 and the experience of a World Amateur Championships is good for him," said Hawkins.

The Irish coach added that several teams had resorted to subterfuge to check the round by round scoring after the public system went down.

"There are guys up in the stands with binoculars and telescopes looking at the computers. Most teams are doing it," he said. "They (the organisers) are not hiding the scores from anyone. It is just teething problems, it happens at most big tournaments. I am sure they are working to sort it out before tomorrow.

"The fact that they have two bells is a bit confusing. They have experimented before with buzzers for one ring and bells for the other - I do not know what has happened here."

A spokesman for the organisers described the problems with the schedule, public scoring system and the bell as "technical difficulties" which were being worked on.

The scoring system, introduced after controversy over alleged fixing of results at Olympic Games and other major championships, links the five ringside judges.

Three out of five judges have to register a hit within one second for it to count. The hit then flashes up on the computer and, normally, on televisions and the public scoreboard.

Cuba’s Guillermo Ortiz Rigondeaux, the Olympic and world champion, started the defence of his bantamweight (54kg) crown in stylish fashion.

He was constantly on the attack against Liczik Andozej of Poland and deservedly won on points.

Hosts Thailand made an encouraging start to the championships with two local boxers stopping their opponents.

Veteran Suban Pannon, who the team believes has a chance of a gold medal at light flyweight, stopped Mehrodj Umarov of Tajikistan after a lively couple of rounds and Thongdang Kongjran was too hot for South Africa’s Nzimeni Msutu in their first round bantamweight bout.