By Dennis U. Eroa
Inquirer
CHICAGO, Illinois–Joan Tipon’s Olympic dream will have to wait for now.
The reigning Asian Games bantamweight champion started cold and lost to archrival Worapoj Petchkoom of Thailand, 13-5, at the start of the International Amateur Boxing Association World Boxing Championships here Tuesday.
The foxy Thai, who lost to the Filipino in the 2006 Doha Asiad finals, was in complete command after taking a 3-0 lead at the end of a boring, action-less first round as Tipon boxed without his usual flair and confidence.
A handful of Filipino supporters including Philippine Sports Commission chair William Ramirez and 1970 Asian Games gold medalist Ricardo Fortaleza at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion tried to rouse Tipon with lusty cheering to no avail.
In a later match, light-welterweight Delfin Boholst bowed to China’s Mai Sun Qiong, 38-15, capping the Filipinos’ forgettable opening day campaign.
“Well, that’s boxing,” said Ramirez. “It’s not the end of the world for him and the rest of the national boxing team.”
The national boxers are shooting for tickets to Beijing 2008 in this Olympic-qualifying tournament.
Tipon, who lost in the preliminaries of the national open back home, will shoot anew for an Olympic slot next year in Asian qualifiers.
Fortaleza said that Tipon failed to sustain his attack in the later rounds.
“The Thai likes to clinch and Joan wasn’t really able to press the action,” said Fortaleza, who also hit the “biased” scoring of the judges.
“Terrible. The Thai didn’t even throw a punch, yet he was getting the scores,” said Fortaleza.
The Thai, scoring mostly to the body, opened a 9-5 lead at the end of the third round then wisely danced and stayed away from trouble by clinching.
National head coach Pat Gaspi acknowledged the loss.
“That’s not the true Tipon,” said Gaspi. “Now we have to concentrate on our remaining boxers.”
It was an observation echoed by deputy coach Ronald Chavez.
“Joan never had the opportunity to find his range. The body blows hurt although some looked dubious.”
After the draw held earlier at the Palmer House Hilton, event organizers shuffled the schedule. Tipon wasn’t scheduled to box Tuesday and learned of the new schedule only after the draw.
Next up for the RP-PLDT-Smart boxing team is featherweight Charly Suarez, who will be tested by Mongolian veteran Zorigbaatar Enkhzarig Wednesday.
Suarez is a rookie in the World Championships like Tipon, Delfin Boholst, lightweight Genebert Basadre and welterweight Willie Lopez.
Flyweight Violito Payla fights Andrew Selby of Wales on Oct. 25, the same day that Basadre battles Bulgarian favorite Kolev Ognyan and Lopez debuts versus Velibor Vedic.
October 26th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
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