Tanamor injures fist, settles for silver vs South Korean boxer

BUSAN – Harry Tanamor couldn’t score points as he mounted a desperate rally in the final round against South Korean Kim Ki-suk and dropped a 19-24 decision yesterday that left him with just the light flyweight silver medal in the 14th Asian Games boxing competitions here.

The 25-year-old Armyman from Tugbungan, Zamboanga City had scored a standing knockdown in the first round en route to a 7-4 lead and remained in front at the end of the second, 10-8, as he raised Philippine hopes for a gold medal from the lone survivor of an original eight-member squad.

But the right hand he injured in his first fight against Myanmar’s Kyaw Swar Aung swelled and he couldn’t use his favorite weapon as the taller Korean exploited his longer reach to outpoint the Filipino, 18-8, in the third round and grab the upperhand, 21-18.

"Namaga ang kanyang kamay ulit kaya hindi na niya maisuntok," said coach Nolito "Boy" Velasco.

Tanamor, who ousted defending champion Suban Pannon of Thailand in the semifinals, still staged a desperate rally in the fourth and final round but it proved futile as judges were obviously looking the other way.

Kim, who spent the round dancing out of harm’s way, even managed to earn points to beat the Filipino, 3-1, for the final tally,

However, the coaching staff headed by Greg Caliwan refused to blame bias judging for the loss probably because the silver was a big improvement from the single bronze medal Eric Canoy produced for the Philippines in the 1998 Bangkok Asiad.

Tanamor also boosted his stock since he was the only boxer to last the distance against Kim, a rapid-punching southpaw like the Filipino, who had scored abbreviated wins in his three previous victories.

Of the seven members of the team lavishly supported by Caltex Philippines, only light welter Romeo Brin, flyweight Violito Payla and lightweight Anthony Igusquiza scored a victory each before losing in their next bouts. The rest were reduced to tourists after their initial outings like many RP athletes here – bantamweight Ferdie Gamo, light middle Chris Camat, featherweight Roel Laguna and middleweight Maraon Goles.

Uzbekistan emerged the overall champion in the Asiad slugfest with five Uzbek fighters snaring gold medals. The other gold medal winners were three South Koreans, two Kazakhs (light welter Nurzhan Karimzhanov and light middle Gennadiy Golvkin), one Thai (flyweight Somjit Jonghohor) and one Pakistani (Muhrullah).

Lightweight Dilshod Mahmudov, light middle Utkirbek Haydarov, light heavy Ikrom Berdiev, heavy Sergey Mihailov and super heavy Rustam Saidov all delivered gold for Uzbekistan.

Aside from Kim, the two other local bets who won the championship were bantamweight Kim Won Il anmd welter Kim Jung-Joo.