Phl pug Ladon gets shot at Asiad gold
Rogen Ladon will be fighting for the gold, while Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial have to settle for a bronze.
The 2016 Rio Olympian scored an impressive unanimous decision victory over Yuttapong Tongdee of Thailand with a masterful performance in their flyweight semifinal at Hall C of the Jakarta International Expo. Now the first boxer to score a win for the Philippines in the 2018 Asian Games is also the first to make it to the final match.
The flyweight Ladon was caught a few times by his power-punching foe in the first round but he quickly adjusted after Round 1. Instead of staying in the pocket and exchanging heavy punches with the Thai boxer, Ladon moved around and landed clean punches. His lead left was effective in halting the attacks of Tongdee but the Filipino also put his punches together whenever he had the opportunity.
Thailand's Tongdee Yuttapong, and Philippines Ladon Rogen fight in their men's flyweight boxing semifinal at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Frustrated that he could not connect with his power punches, Tongdee resorted to dirty tactics in the third round in an effort to turn the fight around. The Thai took down Ladon and even punched him while he was down but the referee let him off without a point deduction.
Undeterred, Ladon just went back to what won him the second round. He threw one-twos, right hook counters, and lead lefts to win the third and punch his ticket to a goldmedal opportunity.
Ladon will face Uzbekistan's Jasurbek Latipov for the gold tomorrow.
In the second fight of the evening session, light flyweight Paalam settled for a bronze medal as he lost a painfully close split decision to Amit of India, while Marcial lost to Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov via decision in the semifinals in the middleweight division. —