Near riot mars boxing finals; RP cops 8 golds

BACOLOD — All hell came close to breaking loose as cooler heads prevented what could have been a full-scale riot in the last fight of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games boxing finals at the University of St. La Salle gym here last night.

Rep. Monico Puentevella signaled a halt to the proceedings after fans pelted the ring with debris to express their displeasure over the first round scoring of the middleweight title fight between Reynaldo Galido and Athens Olympics bronze medalist Suriya Prasathinphimai of Thailand.

Suriya sprinted to an 11-4 lead but the electronic scoreboard was slow to react to punches that were thrown, causing confusion among the fans. Worse, some of Galido’s punches appeared to be credited to the Thai.

A shower of coins, plastic water bottles and litter bags rained from the gallery.

Suriya was declared the gold medal winner by retirement. Galido settled for the silver.

In all, the Philippines hauled in a total of 14 medals — eight gold, four silver and two bronze — to win the overall boxing championship. Of the eight gold medals, four came from the women and four from the men. Bitter rival Thailand took six golds — including five from the men — two silvers and two bronzes for a total of 10.

Galido’s loss was the third straight for the Philippines in the finals following lightwelterweight Romeo Brin’s 28-23 setback to Pechai Sayota of Thailand and Mark Jason Melligen’s 30-15 defeat to Manon Boonjumnong of Thailand. What made the losses more difficult to swallow was the fact that Melligen is from Bacolod City and Galido from nearby Bago City. The margins reflected in the final scorecards seemed too generous for the Thais.

Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez said he was content that the country has regained its position as a boxing power in the region.

"Our goal was to win the overall championship and we did it," said Lopez. "The women saved the day for us with their four gold medals. I hope those who are accusing us of cheating realize how baseless their charges are. We saw how some of the decisions went against us and didn’t reflect what actually happened in the fights."

The Philippines got off to a rousing start in the finals as Filipina fighters won four of the five gold medals in the women’s division. Hitting paydirt were pinweight Alice Kate Aparri, flyweight Annie Albania, bantamweight Jouvilet Chilem and lightweight Mitchel Martinez. Usanakorn Thawi Nivaywong claimed the lightflyweight gold medal for Thailand. Analiza Cruz of the Philippines salvaged a bronze in the lightflyweight class.

Pinweight Juanito Magliquian got the Philippines on track with a gold to start the men’s program, whipping Zaw Myo Min of Myanmar via a 22-3 score in the second round. Lightflyweight Harry Tañamor struck gold at Myanmar’s Kyaw Swan Aung’s expense on a 27-7 rout in the third round. Somjit Jongjohor of Thailand picked up the flyweight gold, outpointing Tran Quoc Viet of Vietnam, 16-7. Bantamweight Joan Tipon captured another gold for the Philppines by decisioning Tangtong Klongjan of Thailand, 27-14. Worapoj Pethkhum of Thailand won the featherweight gold by crushing the Philippines’ Joegen Ladon, 33-22. Genebert Basadre trounced Indonesia’s Niftah Rifai Lubis, 23-3, in the third round to bag the lightweight gold before Brin, Melligen and Galido closed out the finals with successive losses.

In six head-to-head finals bouts, Thailand beat the Philippines, four wins to two. But the Philippines had the edge in the overall count with four more medals and two more golds.

Among those hit in the near riot during the Suriya-Galido bout was Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) commissioner Noli Eala, watching at ringside, who was struck by a wayward plastic water bottle and one of the five judges sitting around the ring, hit by a coin.