Ladon, four other Philippine pugs eye Thai finals

PHUKET, THAILAND – Reigning Southeast Asian Games champion Rogen Ladon and four other Pinoy boxers gun for spots to the gold medal bouts of the 2022 Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament on Friday at the luxurious Angsana Laguna Phuket Resort Hotel here.

Ladon battles hometown bet Thanarat Saengphet in the men’s flyweight semifinals scheduled as the opening match of the afternoon session starting at 1 p.m. (2 p.m. in Manila) while Ian Clark Bautista (men’s feather), Riza Pasuit (women’s light), Aira Villegas (women’s fly) and Hergie Bacyadan (women’s middle) seek the objective against separate Last-4 opponents.

The Asian Games and Asian Championships silver winner Ladon earned a bye to the quarterfinals, where he overwhelmed Po-Wei Tu of Chinese Taipei, 5-0, on Wednesday.

He is up against the 2021 AIBA World Championships bronze medalist Saengphet, who narrowly beat world title holder Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan via a 3-2 split decision.

Ladon, 28, is not taking the much younger Saengphet,19, lightly even though he already caught a glimpse of the Thai fighter’s potential when they were sparring partners in the pre-tournament training camp held in Muak Lek District just outside Bangkok.

“Fifty-fifty ‘yung tsansang manalo. Hindi natin matantya kasi nasa hometown ‘yung kalaban eh. Pagsikapan lang talaga makalusot. Syempre hindi naman tayo magpapa-isa,” said the pride of Bago, Negros Occidental.

For his part, Bautista fought all the way from the preliminaries to the semis, where he meets Nguyen Van Duong of Vietnam, a silver finisher in the 2019 SEA Games.

The SEAG bronze medalist Bautista first demolished Cheng Wei Lee of Chinese Taipei, 5-0, then outclassed Alex Mukuka of New Zealand, 4-0, in the quarterfinals.

Pasuit, who captured a silver in the Manila SEAG, squares off against Punam Rawal of Nepal after battering Zann Chee Wai Yee of Singapore, 5-0, in the quarters.

SEAG bronze winner Villegas clashes against Nillada Meekon of Thailand following dominant 5-0 victories over Novita Sinadia of India and fellow Philippine campaigner Mary Sinadjan.

Young boxer Bacyadan, for her part, got a bye to the semis, where she tests her mettle against Bhagyabati Kachari of India, who scored a 5-0 win against Pornnipa Chutee of Thailand.

Leading the national boxing team’s campaign in this prestigious Thailand Open is coach Don Abnett, together with coaches Ronald Chavez, Reynaldo Galido, Roel Velasco and Mitchel Martinez.

A total of 14 Filipino pugilists joined the event, including former world champion Josie Gabuco and Tokyo Olympics campaigner Irish Magno. Unfortunately, Gabuco, Magno and the seven other nationals were still finding their rhythm after a long layoff due to COVID lockdowns, resulting in their early exit in the tournament.

“All our boxers are still trying to shake off the cobwebs after two years of not seeing any international competition but they’re slowly getting their rhythm back,” said ABAP president Ed Picson.

“It also helped that they had a two-week training stint in Muaklek, outside of Bangkok, just before the competition and we’re sending them back there right after this for another camp in preparation for the SEA Games in Vietnam and the Women’s World Championships in Turkey next month,” he added.

World champion Nesthy Petecio and fellow Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Carlo Paalam are also in Thailand but skipped the competition and only joined the training camp.

The Thailand Open, organized by the Thailand Boxing Association headed by its president Pichai Chunhavajira who is also the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) president and featuring top-tier athletes from various countries, is part of the Philippine boxing squad’s preparations for its overall title-defense in the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam next month.

Seasoned boxing official Karina Picson is serving as the Technical Delegate while 3-star international referee-judge Jonathan Jimenez is working as one of the Technical Officials of the tournament which will award prize money to the podium finishers.