2 more pugs boost bid for gold

HO CHI MINH CITY–Starring its little big men, RP Team Revicon went 2-for-2 Thursday evening and will have four boxers, all determined and willing to go all the way, competing in the semifinal round of the Pre-SEA Games Boxing Championships at the Phan Dinh Phung Stadium here.

Pinweight Juanito Magliquian (45 kgs) and lightfly Godfrey Castro (48 kgs) stormed past their Vietnamese opponents and joined two flyweight Glen Gonzales (51 kgs) and bantamweight Joan Tipon (54 kgs) in the semis of the five-nation tournament Friday. The finals are scheduled Sunday after a rest day.

Magliquian, 30, a Navyman who won the gold in the 1999 Brunei SEA Games, was all over 18-year-old Nguyen Duy Duc of the Ho Chi Minh squad who was knocked out with still 33 seconds left in the opening round. The referee did not even bother to count as the Pinoy slugger booked the quickest victory so far in the tournament.

Right-handed and fighting out of the red corner, Magliquian connected heavily with powerful jabs and crunching left hooks in the opening minute. Another left hook that landed squarely on the face of the tall, young but lanky Vietnamese brought the fight, witnessed by a big group of Pinoys based here, to an abrupt end.

The Vietnamese boxer was so devastated after taking the punch. He fell like a log. The ring physician, a Vietnamese, was so alarmed that he didn’t even use the stairs rushing onto the ring to aid his fallen countryman. After a minute or two, Duc slowly got up and, dazed and wobbly, was led out of the ring by his coaches and the doctor.

Duc did not suffer any serious injury. But under amateur rules, a fighter who suffers such a beating is ordered to rest for at least a month. A similar beating upon his return would lead to a longer four-month layoff. This rule is being applied just to ensure the safety of these young, amateur boxers.

"It was a very powerful punch that even fighter on the heavier divisions would suffer the same fate," said Pinoy head coach Vicente Arsenal who was so delighted with the victory along with assistant Elmer Pamisa, team manager Ruben Roque and referee/judge Dante de Castro.

Castro, 18, an Armyman from Cadiz City, then followed Magliquain’s footsteps when he scored a 19-10 victory over Nguyen The Hai of Vietnam 1. Out of the blue corner, Castro toyed with his opponent, catching him with a powerful right straight to the nose, leading to a standing eight count with 48 ticks left in the second round.

Red-nosed, the Vietnamese kept on fighting, only to suffer more. He was slightly taller than the 5-foot-2 Castro but just didn’t have the experience to beat the Filipino, a veteran of last year’s King’s Cup in Thailand. Castro piled up the points in the fourth and last round, unleashing left uppercuts that often found the mark.

Magliquian, Castro, Gonzales and Tipon, bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission, Pacific Heights, Accell and Family Rubbing Alcohol, are all confident heading into the finals.

"Keep it up and go for the gold. Huwag ninyo sayangin ang tiwala namin sa inyo. And once again, we can see the results of our grassroots development program. Gonzales and Tipon are first-timers overseas but this early, there’s something to look forward to," said RP amateur boxing chief Manny Lopez in a phone call from Manila.

The stint of RP Team Revicon in this city also known as Saigon will help determine the composition of the national team for the Vietnam SEA Games in December and the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament in Palawan in January.