3 top pugs open gold quest vs lowly rivals

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Southeast Asian Games veterans Mario Fernandez, Ian Clark Bautista and Eumir Felix Marcial launch the Philippines’ bid for overall supremacy in Southeast Asian Games boxing competitions when they face light opposition at the start of competitions today at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibit Center Hall 8.

Bautista, 22, halted in his bid for the 2016 Olympics, climbs the ring to face Abdul Salaam Kaasim of host Malaysia, seeking a win to advance to the semifinals of the flyweight (52kg) class.

Fernandez, a two-time SEA Games gold medalist in a lower division, also has lowly Maung Nge of Myanmar in the bantamweight (56 kg) division while Marcial, who chose to skip the Asian qualifier for the 2020 Olympics in favor of a possible gold in the SEA Games, faces Vietnam’s Nguyen Manh Cuon, hoping for a win to advance to the bantamweight semifinal

Carlo Paalam, the rising young star from the stable of the Alliance of Boxing Associations in the Philippines, drew a lucky bye. He fights another Malaysian, Muhamad Euad Bedzuan tomorrow.

Also fighting tomorrow are unheralded Filipino-British Marvin Jon Nobel Tupas, who also drew a bye into the quarterfinal where he fights Felix Merlin Martinez of Cambodia in the light heavyweight (60K) division.

Charly Suarez faces Khir Akyazlan Azmi of Malaysia in the other quarterfinal tomorow.

This is the first time the Philippines is fielding a boxer in a higher division Ian Clark Bautista where Pat Gaspi and Ernesto Coronel last fought in the late 80s.

“We hope we can hurdle our first opponents, particularly those from Malaysia, so we can advance to the semis,” said ABAP secretary general Ed Picson.

A Philippine-Thailand clash may feature a semifinal clash between Suarez and Wuttichai Masuk, Tupaz vs Anavat Thongkrathok and Bautista vs Tanes Onjunta and a title duel pitting Marcial vs Pathomsak Kuttiya, Paalam vs Thani Narinram and Fernandez vs Chachai Butdee.

The Philippines wound up with 5-3-2 gold-silver-bronze medals in Singapore where they fielded 10 boxers, including four women, but will be hard up achieving the same feat with six boxers, three of them fighting in higher divisions because the lower divisions where they used to fight in were delisted by the organizers.