MANILA, Philippines – Filipina pug Aira Villegas used her quickness in shocking No. 2 seed Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria to advance to the quarterfinals of the women’s 50kg boxing competition in the Paris Olympics early Friday.
In a fitting birthday gift, Villegas, who just turned 29, kept her distance from Boualam and strategically tagged her foe with blows to the head to score a unanimous decision victory.
The Tacloban-born boxer was on her toes the entire fight, showcasing her movement and counterpunching to win all the judges' scorecards in the opening round. While the next two frames were closer, it was Villegas' clean blows that spelled the difference.
Villegas thus joins Tokyo silver medalists Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam among the Filipino boxers who remain in medal contention.
She will take on Wassilia Lkhadiri of France on August 4 in the quarterfinals.