Tañamor, Tipon cop golds in Vietnam slugfest

Lightfly Harry Tañamor and bantam Joan Tipon sustained their pace and trounced their rivals in smashing fashions to bag the gold medals in their respective divisions at the close of the 23rd Asian Seniors Boxing Championships in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Sunday.

Tañamor, the Busan Asian Games silver medalist, pummeled Athens Olympics bronze medalist Hong Moo Woon of Korea in a final round charge to fashion out a 48-40 victory and rule the 48-kg division of the week-long event.

Tipon duplicated Tañamor’s feat later with a 31-15 rout of Mongolian Oigonchulun Bathkuu, who failed to neutralize Tipon’s long reach and superb fighting style that drew raves from the crowd and boxing officials who handed him the Best Boxer trophy award.

"Gusto ko lang pong bigyan ng magandang panalo ang ating bayan," said Tipon, who had the most number of fights among the 145 boxers who saw action, including victories over tough rivals in Athens veterans from Tajikistan, North Korea, South Korea and Kazakhstan.

Tañamor and Tipon’s victories augur well for the country’s preparations for the 23rd Southeast Asiang Games here where the Filipinos hope to claim the overall crown in the sport and anchor the country’s bid for the overall championship in the biennial games.

Tañamor was quick to the draw and led the first round by five points behind his left hook and right straight to the face that found the target.

Stunned, Woon tried to counter attack in the second round and went for body shots but Tañamor’s coach Pat Gaspi changed strategy and instructed his ward to box and fight at a distance against the game Korean.

With two gold medals, the Philippines finished third to Pakistan (three golds) and Kazakhstan (two golds and one silver) and the best performer among Southeast Asian nations with Thailand, the country’s chief rival in the Manila SEA Games, managing only one gold.