Marcial, Bautista advance in World youth slugfest

MANILA, Philippines - Lightweight Eumir Felix Marcial and Ian Clark Bautista pounded their respective rivals and came away with a pair of lopsided victories to advance in the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Yerevan, Armenia Monday.

Marcial, 17, struck back from a one-point win Friday with a 22-8 rout of Muminjon Mukhtorov, the reigning Tajikistan national youth champion, who simply failed to keep pace with the Filipino fighter’s superb skills and power.

Bautista also pummeled Uzbek Khakimjon Ubaydullaev with a barrage of punches and rolled to a 17-7 victory in their flyweight bout to kick off his campaign in the week-long event that drew the best and rising fighters from 68 countries.

The diminutive Bautista connected accurately with left-right combinations to the head and body but said he could have done even better if it were not for the thin air which causes one to run out of steam after a short flurry.

“I wanted to throw even more punches but it’s hard to catch your breath after two or three blows, said the 18-year-old Bautista in Filipino.

ABAP president Ricky Vargas expressed elation at the double victory, saying “the performance of our boys, relatively inexperienced as they are, showcases the natural skill and talent of the Filipino boxer. It inspires Abap to carry on with its aim to further hone our boxers to their full potential in the international arena.”

The three remaining Filipinos in the tournament see action again at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex with light flyweight Jade Bornea facing Bulgaria’s Tinko Banabakov, who owns a string of victories both in his country and abroad. The 17-year-old Arakan, South Cotabato native, who entered the national pool only last June, had an impressive 19-6 win over Dimitrys Zaharovs of Latvia in his first ever international outing last Saturday.

Marcial’s victory lined him up against European Olympic Qualifying participant and Slovakian national champion Michal Zatorsky in the evening session of the 60 kg lightweight class.

Bautista gets a crack at moving forward in the tournament (format is an elimination system whereby one loss knocks a participant out of the running) in his match against Korean Ham Sangmyeong, a bronze medalist in the 2011 World Junior Champioships in Astana, Kazakhstan.