Three boxers pursue advance

Tokyo Olympic boxing medalists Eumir Marcial and Nesthy Petecio hope to clinch quarterfinal berths while John Marvin is looking to advance to the semifinals in three critical bouts at the Hangzhou Asian Games today. The Philippine boxing team suffered a big blow when three fighters were dispatched in their first outings – men’s flyweight Aaron Bado, women’s flyweight Aira Villegas and women’s bantamweight Irish Magno. Lightmiddleweight Marjon Pianar made his Asiad debut against Uzbekistan’s Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev yesterday and the result was still not available at presstime. A loss would make Pianar the fourth victim without a win.

Marcial takes on Vietnam’s Nguyen Manh Cuong in what should be a walk in the park. The Filipino lightheavyweight has beaten Nguyen twice before and the second time was by a devastating first round knockout in the 75kg final of the 2019 SEA Games. A win will move Marcial to the quarterfinals and three victories shy of a gold medal. The two finalists will punch tickets to the Paris Olympics.

Petecio will face Chinese-Taipei’s Lin Yu Ting in a round-of-16 women’s featherweight (57kg) affair with the winner to proceed to the quarterfinals. It’s a rematch of their Tokyo Olympic meeting where Petecio was pushed to the limit in winning by a 3-2 split decision. Judges Putra Pohan Arisa, Yaroslav Renev and Mohamed Basmi scored it 29-28 for Petecio while Wilfredo Vasquez and Susann Kopke had it 29-28 for Lin. Petecio went on to bag the silver medal, leaving Lin out in the cold. No doubt, Lin has revenge on her mind. There are 16 entries in women’s featherweight and four wins will bag the gold.

Marvin, a 2017 SEA Games gold medalist, made an auspicious Asiad debut by stopping Nepal’s Nepal Rabin last Wednesday. He’ll take on South Korea’s Jeong Jaemin in the quarterfinals today. A win will take Marvin to the semifinals and a guaranteed bronze. Like Marcial, Marvin has turned pro and registered a 2-0 record, with two KOs. Marcial is 4-0 with two KOs as a pro. With 13 entries in the heavyweight (92kg) class, Marvin has three wins to go before striking gold. If he makes it to the final, Marvin is assured a slot in the Paris Olympics. Men’s featherweight (57kg) and Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Carlo Paalam will meet Kyrgyzstan’s Seiitbek Uulu Munarbek in a round-of-16 match tomorrow. The winner moves to the quarterfinals. Paalam breezed to a dominating win over Jordan’s Mohammad Abu Jajeh by a 5-0 decision in his first assignment last Tuesday.