MILAN – Russia came out on top of the 133-nation lineup at the recently-concluded 15th AIBA World Championships here with two gold, four silver and two bronze medals as Mongolia and Uzbekistan were the only Asian countries to hit paydirt in the biennial competition that drew 554 fighters, including five Filipinos.
Nine countries struck gold with host Italy and Russia the only nations with two apiece in the 11 men’s weight divisions. Italy, however, had no silver or bronze medalist. Russia sent six fighters to the finals while Mongolia, Italy, Puerto Rico, Ukraine, Cuba and Uzbekistan advanced two each.
None of the five Filipino contenders made it to the third round. Under the round-of-64 format, it took six wins for a fighter to claim a gold. Only lightweight Joegin Ladon failed to reach the second round but his English tormentor Thomas Stalker didn’t go far, losing to Brazil’s Everton Lopes in his next outing.
The five fighters who eliminated the Filipinos were bundled out before the semifinals. Lightflyweight Harry Tañamor’s conqueror Hovhannes Danielyan of Armenida went as far as the quarterfinals before bowing to eventual gold medalist Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia. Bantamweight Joan Tipon lost a 2-0 heartbreaker to Algeria’s Abdelhalim Ourani who was blanked, 7-0, by Russia’s Eduard Abzalimov in the quarterfinals. Featherweight Charly Suarez was beaten by lanky Korean Joo Min Jae in the second round but his 5-11 tormentor later crashed out, losing a 6-4 verdict to Mexico’s Oscar Valdez. Lightwelterweight Genebert Basadre was defeated by two-time Olympian Myke Carvalho in the second round then the Brazilian lost a 10-8 decision to Hungary’s Gyula Kate.
It would’ve been some consolation for the Filipinos if those who had eliminated them went on to bag medals but alas, none did.
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Thailand, like the Philippines, didn’t advance a single fighter to the semifinals and missed out on a medal with Cuban coach Omar Puentes. There were six Thais in the tournament.
USA collected only a solitary medal, a silver through lightwelterweight Frankie Gomez who was thrashed by Cuba’s Roniel Iglesias in the finals. Other Cuban medalists were heavyweight Osmal Acosta (silver), lightheavyweight Jose Larduet (bronze) and bantamweight Yankiel Leon (bronze).
Italy had a lot to celebrate as superheavyweight Roberto Cammarelle and lightweight Domenico Valentino pocketed golds. In two finals that drew wild applause from the hometown crowd, Cammarelle outpointed Ukraine’s Roman Kapitonenko while Valentino trounced Puerto Rico’s Jose Pedraza.
China struggled with two bronze medals. Lightflyweight Li Jiazhan, taking over from two-time world champion Zuo Shiming, was eliminated in the semifinals as was superheavyweight Zhilei Zhang. At the World Championships in Chicago two years ago, China harvested a gold and four bronzes.
The Asian gold medalists were Purevdorj and middleweight Abbas Atoev of Uzbekistan. Other Asian medalists were lightheavyweight Elshod Rasulov of Uzbekistan (silver), Li, Zhilei, lightflyweight Jong Hun Shin of Korea (bronze), welterweight Botirjon Mahmudov and featherweight Bahodirjon Sultonov of Uzbekistan (both bronze), welterweight Serik Sapiyev of Kazakhstan (bronze), flyweight Tugstsogt Nyambayar of Mongolia (bronze) and middleweight Vijender Singh of India (bronze).
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Russia’s dominance established the country as Cuba’s undisputed successor on top of amateur boxing. Russian fighters are well-schooled in the Sweet Science, capitalizing on their Spartan attitude to bring a frightening kind of mental toughness in the ring. They’re not only physically in shape to go all-out for three rounds but they’re also in fine psychological form. Their coaching is excellent, too.
At the moment, ABAP has a Cuban coach Enrique Steyners in the fold. There are talks to bring back another Cuban coach Raul Fernandez for the run-up to the London Olympic qualifiers.
The problem with tapping a Russian coach is you don’t really know who’s available and whether Filipino fighters will respond positively to his style. Then there is the language barrier. Fernandez’ asset is his track record – he piloted Onyok Velasco to the silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and has long been associated with the Cuban national team as a coach.
National men’s coaches Pat Gaspi and Ronald Chavez are capable as skills developers but the Cubans provide the added perspective of being experienced tacticians with the ability to make key adjustments during a bout. If the Filipino and Cuban coaches work together as a team, the sky’s the limit.