Suarez manhandles foe in Uzbekistan

MANILA, Philippines - Charly Suarez flashed fine form to whip local bet Ismoil Haitbaev and post a convincing 18-6 victory to advance in the Sydney Jackson Memorial boxing tournament at the Universal Uzbekistan Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan Monday.

The 23-year-old Suarez used his speed and accuracy to dominate his Uzbek rival, pulling away in the second round, 14-5, en route to victory in their featherweight clash. He faces another local fighter in Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in the next round Tuesday.

The nine-man PLDT-ABAP national boxing team arrived in Uzbekistan via Incheon, Korea with Suarez hardly showing the effects of the grueling 23-hour trip by outclassing Haitbaev.

Light-welterweight Dennis Galvan, however, absorbed a sorry 11-17 setback to Ergashali Tursunov, also of Uzbekistan.

Galvan actually took charge early, 4-2, behind explosive left hooks but the Filipino fighter somewhat lost his steam in the second round and yielded the lead, 8-9.

The 20-year old Bago City native tried to rally in the third but was visibly spent and missed badly, enabling Tursunov to coast to victory.

“This might be considered a small tournament (total of 130 boxers in the five-day competition), but the field is strong. Among the invitees, we’re the only one that is not a former USSR state,” said ABAP executive director Ed Picson.

Aside from host Uzbekistan (five teams), other teams seeing action are Russia (two teams), Kazakhstan (three teams) and Turkmenistan.

Also set to see action for Team Phl, handled by coaches and former Olympians Ronald Chavez and Roel Velasco, are Olympics-bound Mark Anthony Barriga, who debuts against Temirtas Jusupov of Kazakhstan, world junior champion Eumir Felix Marcial of Zamboanga, who faces Shahboz Muhammadov, and Binalbagan, Negros Occidental’s Ian Clark Bautista, who squares off with Lihom Inomov of Uzbekistan.