2 more RP fighters near Beijing slots

CHICAGO, Illinois – Light-flyweight Harry Tañamor and lightweight Genebert Basadre dominated their respective rivals to advance to the last 16 in the World Boxing Championships Sunday at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion here.

Tañamor outboxed Nasir Mohammed of Wales, 24-5, while Basadre whipped Faraj Al-Matboli of Jordan, 29-7, to join flyweight Violito Payla of the RP-PLDT-Smart boxing team to the round of 16.

Basadre bucked two warnings given by the referee to move to within a win of making the 2008 Beijing Olympics, while Tañamor stamped his class right from the start to frustrate the hard-fighting Welshman.

According to AIBA, quarterfinalists here will advance to Beijing.

A veteran of the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics, Tañamor surged ahead, 13-3, at the end of second round before securing the win with a flurry of punches which stopped Mohammed, 20-5, early in the fourth and final round.

Head coach Pat Gaspi said the 29-year-old pride of Zamboanga City is peaking at the right time.

“Harry’s improving and will be in peak form come his next fight,” said Gaspi.

Tañamor faces 2005 World Championships bronze medalist Sherali Dostiev, while Payla takes on Raushee Warren, a rising star in the United States boxing team.

Despite the lopsided score, there were tense moments during Basadre’s triumph.

Meanwhile, AIBA president Ching Kuo Wu said that three Romanian boxers, including their coach and manager, were sent home Sunday and slapped with lifetime bans for acts detrimental to amateur boxing. Wu said all were caught shoplifting at an upscale Chicago department store.

“The new AIBA will not tolerate this kind of behavior among its member-nations. Their act is a disgrace to the number one Olympic sport,” said Wu, who met team officials and coaches for the second time in four days at the Palmer House Hilton.

The incident came two days after an urgent meeting called by Wu following the defection of two Ugandan and one Armenian boxers.