2 Philippines boxers bag gold in Poland

MANILA, Philippines — Ian Clark Bautista bagged the flyweight gold in the Feliks Stamm boxing tournament yesterday and will come home from Warsaw, Poland also carrying with him the Best Boxer trophy.

Bautista, a SEA Games champion in 2015, scored a unanimous decision over Zarip Jumayev of Turkmenistan to cap the Philippines’ impressive show in the tournament that featured 146 boxers.

Nesthy Petecio, three-time silver medalist in the SEA Games, also struck gold with a split decision against Germany’s Ornelia Wahner.

Lightweight Junel Cantancio and bantamweight Mario Bautista Jr. settled for the bronze in the event honoring the seven-time Olympian from Poland (from 1936 to 1968).

It was an impressive show for the Filipino boxers, capped by Bautista’s golden performance that netted him the coveted Best Boxer award.

“The uppercuts to the body worked for Yanyan (Bautista), and the opponent tried to complain of low blows just to stall the attack,” said Filipino head coach Boy Velasco.

“Then Yanyan zig-zagged his way and this further confused his opponent, who never recovered,” added Velasco.

Petecio pressed the attack on her German foe right in the opening round, and connected with her jab-straight combinations.

“In the second round, Nesthy unloaded a double-uppercut that hurt her opponent. Hindi na ulit pumasok (That kept her at bay),” said Velasco.