Two losses end Pinoy boxers’ stint

Amman, Jordan – The quarterfinal round of the Asian Elite Men’s Boxing Championships proved to be the end of the road for the Philippine campaign here as the last two hopefuls lost close matches Friday.

Asian Games gold medalist Rey Saludar, 25, started off strong against Thailand’s flyweight bet Tanes Ongjunta but allowed the younger fighter to dictate the tempo in the next two rounds to bow out of the competition on identical 28-29 scores of the three judges.

In almost the same fashion, Rogen Ladon let a win slip out of his hands as he gave up control which he held in the first round to vaunted Temertas Zhussupov of Kazakhstan. That one ended in scores of 28-28, 28-29 and 27-30.

The other boxers were Mario Fernandez (bantamweight), Junel Cantancio (lightweight) and Joel Bacho (light welterweight).