One man left standing

MILAN – Lightflyweight Harry Tañamor and bantamweight Joan Tipon unceremoniously crashed out of the party in the second round of eliminations at the 15th AIBA World Championships in the 11,000-seat Mediolanum Forum here Saturday, leaving the Philippines with only featherweight Charly Suarez still in contention.

It was a dark day for the five-man national squad that got off to a hot start, winning three of its first four outings, before tumbling to lose three in a row.

Suarez, the country’s last hope for a medal, faced lanky Korean Joo Min Jae yesterday. The result was not available at presstime.

Tañamor, 31, was a disappointment against fifth-seeded Hovhannes Danielyan of Armenia as he appeared lost in the ring, unable to score a single point in the third and last round. Danielyan, 22, led all the way in cruising to a trouble-free 11-3 decision.

Tañamor’s vaunted in-and-out southpaw attack was never a threat to Danielyan who was more aggressive. The Armenian had the better of the exchanges from both close and long range. Tañamor desperately tried to land a big punch down the stretch but Danielyan, who reached the second round in the Beijing Olympics, proved too smart to be caught.

The loss ended Tañamor’s dream of adding a gold medal to his World Championships collection of a silver and two bronzes.

National coach Pat Gaspi conceded defeat but Tañamor insisted he was robbed of points by the five judges, one of whom Frank Scharmach of Germany scored it 7-1 for the Armenian.

“I hurt him with body shots and I heard him grunt,” said Tañamor in Pilipino. “I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t scoring points. I wanted to bring him down in the last round with one shot but I ran out of time.”

Tañamor later admitted his timing was off.

“I think I could’ve been in better physical condition if I had more exposure,” said Tañamor. “Even while training in Cuba, I felt my body wasn’t in top shape.”

Tañamor hadn’t seen action in a tournament since winning the gold medal at the World Cup in Moscow last December. In that competition, Tañamor whipped Poland’s Lukasz Masczczyk, 12-4, in the semifinals before mowing down Cuba’s Yampier Hernandez, 15-7, for the gold.

Because of lack of international exposure, Tañamor lost his world ranking and wasn’t among the eight seeds in the 48-kilogram division here. Surprisingly, Masczczyk was seeded first.

“The seeding was critical because if Harry was in the top eight, he would’ve started out fighting the low contenders,” said Gaspi. “I thought that if Harry could beat Danielyan, he would go to the finals.”

Danielyan came with impressive credentials as a 2006 European Championships semifinalist and gold medalist at the European Elite Championships in Liverpool last year. His advantage over Tañamor was he kept busy this year. Another edge was his age – he is nine years younger.

“If Harry was 100 percent, he would’ve beaten Danielyan for sure,” said Gaspi. “But he was only 70 to 75 percent. It’s difficult if your body isn’t active. We missed out on at least four tournaments this year. It’s different training in the gym and fighting in the ring. Harry was beaten to the punch inside and outside. I’m disappointed in his showing because he was our best bet for a medal.”

As for Tipon, he was almost in tears after dropping a 2-0 verdict to second-seeded Abdelhalim Ouradi of Algeria in a fight that the 2006 Asian Games gold medalist could’ve easily won.

Tipon and Ouradi were scoreless at the end of two rounds. The flat-footed Algerian was an open target for the quick-stepping Tipon but the Bacolod City contender never came close to scoring with his jab-straight combinations. Tipon threw punches in the air, like he was shadow-boxing, and cautiously stayed away from getting hit.

In the third round, Ouradi repeatedly rushed Tipon and picked up two points down the stretch to eke out the victory.

“I lost my power,” said Tipon in Pilipino. “I don’t know what happened. I got tired throwing punches because I kept missing. I just couldn’t connect. In the second round, I hurt my right arm when we both missed and our arms locked. I’m so down because I could’ve beaten him if only my body was in good condition.”

Gaspi said if Tipon fought like the way he did in beating Sri Lanka’s Kamal Gamaethiralalage in the first round of eliminations last Wednesday, Ouradi would’ve lost.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Gaspi. “He complained that his body wasn’t reacting to what he wanted to do. I just know Tipon is capable of doing much more.”

While there is no doubt that both Tañamor and Tipon are skilled fighters, the question mark is their mental toughness. They lost to more aggressive fighters who took the risk of engaging. Tañamor and Tipon fought too cautiously, too defensively that they forgot it’s offense, not defense, that scores points.