Cantancio joins Gabuco, Petecio in final

MANILA, Philippines -  Junel Cantancio upended China’s top lightweight bet Wang Bo to barge into the finals but London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga bowed to local ace Wu Zhonglin in the China Open boxing tournament in Guiyang, China Thursday.

Cantancio kept up the pressure against Wang all throughout the fight, not allowing the Chinese fighter to set up any kind of offense and getting the nods of all three judges, who gave the Filipino fighter every round with identical scores of 30-27 (AIBA recently adopted the 10-points must system).

He thus joined Josie Gabuco and Nesthy Petecio in the gold medal matches after the two lady fighters toppled their respective fancied Chinese rivals in the semifinals Wednesday.

But Barriga proved to be a big letdown as he dropped a unanimous decision (28-29, 27-30 and 28-29) to Wu. 

The pint-sized Barriga took too much time trying to figure out his opponent and lost precious ground in the process. He shifted to his usual slick style in the third round but by then, Wu had already taken a commanding lead.

The Panabo, Davao del Norte native settled for the bronze in the light-flyweight category although he had to be taken to the hospital later after dislocating his left thumb while delivering an uppercut in the third round.

ABAP executive director Ed Picson noted that Barriga and other Filipino boxers need to be more conscious of the nuances of the scoring system.

“They need to know how to adjust their game to the system. We had a lengthy meeting after the fights this afternoon with the coaches and boxers to explain to them in more detail what they need to do to take advantage of the new rule,” said Picson.

Meanwhile, Gabuco goes for the gold medal against Xu Shiqi, the same boxer she beat in the finals of the world championships in Qinhuangdao, China last year.

“I know she is out to avenge that loss, so I’m prepared for her,” said Gabuco, who beat London silver medalist and three-time world champion Ren Cancan in the semis.

Petecio, on the other hand, will square off with Alexis Pritchard of New Zealand for the lightweight (60 kg.) gold medal. The Kiwi lass towers about six inches over her but Petecio says “I’m used to fighting girls that tall.”

ABAP president Ricky Vargas conveyed his pleasure at having three boxers in the finals of a tough tournament but said “let’s work at getting more next time.”

In 13 finals bouts Friday, Chinese boxers are in nine of them. In two weight categories – the men’s flyweight and bantamweight, the gold will be contested by boxers from the host country.