Ladon leads Philippines gold haul in Thailand

MANILA, Philippines — Rogen Ladon, Riza Pasuit and Hergie Bacyadan delivered golden performances to lead the Philippines’ victorious campaign in the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament in Phuket yesterday.

The 28-year-old Ladon, a 2016 Rio Olympian, came through with the worthiest effort of all after he shocked Asian champion and Asian Games gold medalist Amit Panghal of India in a close 3-2 result to capture the flyweight mint.

Pasuit, a 2019 Southeast Asian Games silver winner, displayed superb counter-punching in overwhelming Italian Alessia Mesiano in their women’s lightweight gold duel.

Bacyadan, a wushu fighter before converting to boxing, smashed Vietnamese Tramn Thi Oanh Nhi, 5-0, to cop the women’s middleweight gold.

“I’m very happy. I expected the experience from Rogen to come out today. As for Riza, she is a very good counter-puncher and a great boxer moving forward,” said national team coach Don Abnett, who was accompanied by Roel Velasco, Ronald Chavez, Reynaldo Galido and Mitchel Martinez.

Featherweight Ian Clark Bautista and flyweight Aira Villegas went for gold but fell short following stinging defeats against higher-ranked opponents Serik Termizhanov of Kazakhstan and Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam, respectively, and settled for the silver.

The three-gold, two-silver haul eclipsed the one-gold, one-bronze finish in 2019 while underscoring the country’s readiness for the Hanoi Games slated May 12 to 23.

The triumphs earned Ladon, Pasuit and Bacyadan the top purse worth $2,000, or a cool P100,000 apiece courtesy of the Thailand Boxing Association headed by concurrent Asian Boxing Federation president Pichai Chunhvajira.

“I think we’ve exceeded our expectations because as you know, our boxers have come from a long period of inactivity. We’re happy with where we are right now,” said Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines chief Ed Picson.