RP’s Tañamor beats Tajikistan foe, 17-12

ATHENS (via Globe Telecom) — Light flyweight Harry Tañamor needed to lean on some flashes of brilliance to overcome jitters in his Olympic debut and beat Tajikistan’s Sherail Dostiev Wednesday night at the Peristeri boxing arena here.

For three rounds, Tañamor struggled to solve the Tajikistan puzzle as he labored to find his own rhythm before pulling off a 17-12 decision.

"Naninibago," said Taña-mor, fashioning out the win two days before his 27th birthday.

Until he hit his stride in the final two minutes of the contest, the best RP hope for a boxing medal and the game Dostiev fought it close with the Filipino hanging to a slim 12-11 lead at the end of the third round.

But Tañamor countered with a hard left on a rushing Dostiev and banged away two swift rights in the first minute of the last round to find some breathing room at 15-11.

Then he finished off the 19-year-old Tajikistan slugger with a left cross in the last 17 seconds and a short right at the end of the contest.

"Malikot at mabilis at halos nine minutes bago nawala ang nerbiyos ko," Tañamor told a group of Filipino officials led by Philippine Sports Commission chairman Eric Buhain, Philippine Olympic Committee chief Celso Dayrit and International Olympic Committee representative Frank Elizalde.

But a win is a win and it should prime up the veteran fighter from Zamboanga to a tough second round assignment against Korean Hong Moo Won and give a boost to the Philippine campaign reduced to two fighters with lightwelter Romeo Brin to clash with a Thai fighter Thursday night.

The flashy Hong underscored the depth and talent of the division when he demolished Madagascar’s Alexsan Nalbandyan with a third round stoppage.

Hong inflicted severe punishment on the young Nalbandyan and the referee stopped the contest in 1:17 of the third round under the 20-point rule, 30-10.

Cuban Yan Varela Bhartelemy also claimed a referee-stopped-contest verdict over Venezuela’s Miguel Angel Miranda in the third round and will now test the seasoned Suban Pannon of Thailand.

World light flyweight champion and three-time European titlist Sergey Kazakov of Russia began his quest with a comfortable 20-8 triumph over Patricio Calero of Ecuador.

Kazakov, fancied to advance all the way to the finals, has beaten Hong in the second round of the Bangkok World Championship last year where Tañamor took the bronze.

"Tañamor was anxious at the start but began to feel more confident as the bout went on, and his win will be a big boost for the rest of the Philippine Team particularly our taekwondo team," said former Manila mayor Mel Lopez, boxing’s team leader.

Until Tañamor took the initiative for good in the final round, the contest hung in the balance as Dostiev repeatedly countered with solid blows. In fact, when the verdict was announced it was greeted with a mix of cheers and boos from the small crowd that included Filipino supporters of the fighter.

Tañamor’s victory more than made up for the bitter loss suffered by flyweight Violito Payla at the hands of Uzbekistan’s Tulashboy Doniyorov, leaving him and the three-time Olympian Brin to challenge for Olympic glory.

Brin, 32, was expected to get into another brawl with Thailand’s Magnus Boonjumnong, a silver medallist in the World championships whom Brin beat in the Asian qualifier in Puerto Princesa City.There was controversy in the opening session in the light flyweight when the youngest boxer in the tournament, 17-year-old Rau Swee Warren of the United States, was eliminated by the spoiling tactics of world medallist Shiming Zou of China. The Chinese won, 22-9, the decision sparking angry reaction from the crowd.

Tañamor, also two-time bronze medallist in the Bangkok and Belfast world events, chalked up 5-3 margin in the first round with some right straights and left crosses.

He led off with a long right overhead in the second and Dostiev countered with two clean shots and ended the round with two hard blows for 8-7 in favor of the Filipino.

The two fighters were even with four blows scored each in the next round and as the Filipinos on the bleachers fidgeted on their seats, Tañamor opened the fourth canto with three clean blows and coasted to victory and a date with the dangerous Hong.

Meanwhile, Miguel Mendoza will bring the curtains down on the swimmers stint in Athens when he competes in the 1,500-meter freestyle preliminaries Friday at the Aquatic Center.

The 22-year-old Mendoza, a repeat Olympian having competed in Sydney four years ago, gained his Athens berth with a qualifying time of 15:49.55 he set in winning the gold in the Vietnam SEA Games.

The University of Georgia student is expected to better the time since he has concentrated on the event in the buildup to the Games.