TAGBILARAN, Bohol, Philippines – Misamis Oriental racked up five gold medals to zero in on the overall crown in the 2012 PLDT-ABAP National Boxing Amateur Championship at the Cogon gym here Wednesday.
MisOr, which has 12 boxers vying for the gold, eight of them outright finalists, nailed its first as Julito Sumalinog bested Davao del Norte’s Philip Jay Verador, 12-8, in the 52kg junior boys light bantamweight category.
Four others followed suit as Jobel Araneta defeated Davao del Norte’s Jerson Ladrada, 11-6 (54kg junior boys bantamweight); Princess Galarfe routed Tayabas’ Teresa Conje, 10-1 (50kg junior girls flyweight); Remark Casas beat Cebu’s Rodex Piala, 18-11 (49kg boys light fly); and Beverly Casero clobbered Tayabas’ Ma. Carolina Narez, 16-4 (46kg girls pinweight).
General Santos and Bago City have two golds each with the former taking two of the first three gold medals disputed.
Bago City, on the other hand, picked up two impressive victories, both via RSC (Referee-Stopped-Contest) decisions.
Meanwhile, twins Jake and Jade Bornea of GenSan made up for the early defeat of teammate Regel Lou Alde as they posted impressive wins to emerge among the boxers with the highest potential in this grassroots development program.
Jake Bornea dominated Mandaue’s Bryan Remedio, 14-4, while Jade whisked off Davao del Norte’s Charnie Jun Magsayo’s tough stand in the first round en route to a 21-10 victory in the 50kg boys flyweight category.
Alde lost to Cebu’s Junrel Jimenez, 12-9, in the 46kg junior boys pinweight division.
The Borneas reached the finals in varying fashions with Jake blasting the fancied Samboy Lao of Misamis Oriental, 21-9, in the 48kg junior boys light flyweight class, and Jade edging another MisOr bet, Klemen Earl Cabahit, 11-10, in the 50kg boys flyweight category.
Cebu’s Jimenez advanced to the finals by edging Cabadbaran’s Jilnar Libranza, 9-7, in the 46kg junior boys pinweight.
After fellow Bago bet Raymart Flores manhandled Tagbilaran-B’s Daniel Banol (RSC/Round 1), three-time national champion James Palicte demolished Davao del Norte’s Marlon John Aguilar with the referee stepping in after giving Aguilar an 8-count in the second round for another RSC decision.
Cebu City, Gingoog, Leyte, Mandaue and Tagbilaran-A each had one gold each. Davao del Norte had seven boxers in the running, GenSan had five, Tayabas and Mandaue four, Cebu three, Team Andrada, Bago City, Tagbilaran-A, Asuncion two each, and Gingoog, Negros, Leyte, Maasin, Tagbilaran, Manolo Fortich, GenSan A and Leyte one each.