In-form Harry stops Korean

Harry Tañamor relived his glorious past Thursday night, scoring an abbreviated victory over his North Korean rival to barge into the second round of the 26th King’s Cup International Boxing Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

Tañamor, aching to climb back into prominence after a forgettable stint in the Athens Olympics in 2004, toyed with So Sok to hammer out a 26-6 RSC-OS (Referee Stopped Contest Outscored) after three of their four-round bouts.

The victory gave the Philippines a 1-1 score in its first outing in this world-ranking tournament being used by the Amateur Boxing Association as part of the try-outs for the composition of the RP team to the coming Southeast Asian Games in Manila.

Tañamor’s win came before rookie internationalist Rolando Magbanua dropped his bantamweight fight against Thongdan Krongjan of Thailand.

Magbanua from North Cotabato, making his first appearance in an international tournament after his discovery last year, absorbed a 22-9 beating from the Thai, to leave Tañamor and four other Filipinos to carry on the fight for team Philippines.

"While Tañamor was impressive with his sharp blows and timing, Magbanua proved to be one raw fighter, tentative in his movements and slow, making his moves only in the fourth round where he tallied all his score," said Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez, present in the tournament in his capacity as the secretary-general of the Federation of Asian Amateur Boxing (FAAB)..

„That is a part of his learning process. The important thing here is that he was given the chance to sample what is it like in international competitions of this magnitude.

The tournament, which attracted 89 boxers from 18 teams representing 15 nations, is one of the biggest and strongest in the Asian region.

The team, coached by Leopoldo Cantancio and Elmer Pamisa and whose appearance here was made possible by the First Gentleman Foundation and San Miguel Corporation with support from Pacific Heights, resumes its bid Friday evening when middleweight Francis Joven tangles with Taiwan’s Yang Ju Jing.

Tañamor sees action anew tonight along with flyweight Violito Payla and lightweight Anthony Marcial while light welterweight Florencio Ferrer debuts tomorrow.

Payla, Marcial and Ferrer drew first round byes and will face a Thai, a Taiwanese and a Russian, respectively in their first bout while Tañamor is billed to meet either a Thai or a fighter from Laos.