3 Pinoys gain quarters

BANGKOK — Flyweight Ian Clark Bautista pounded out an impressive 3-0 win over Trong Thai Bui of Vietnam and marched into the quarterfinals of the ASBC Asian Boxing Championships yesterday at the Thammasat University Gymnasium here.

All three judges from Latvia, Kazakhstan and Korea gave the fight to Bautista, a 20-year-old who won the gold medal in the last SEA Games in Singapore.

It was a busy fight for both fighters but the Filipino slugger, making his first appearance in this six-day-old tournament, landed the better punches.

“I took the fight seriously and did not leave anything to chance. I did not want to take the risk,” said Bautista in Filipino after joining his countrymen, light-fly Rogen Ladon and welterweight Eumir Felix Marcial in the final eight.

The victories kept the Philippines in the hunt for slots to the AIBA World Championships in Doha, Qatar on Oct. 5 to 15, where berths to next year’s Rio Olympics will be disputed.

Their victories also cushioned the impact of the heartbreaking defeats of bantamweight Mario Fernandez and lightweight Charly Suarez against fighters from Kazakhstan.

Ladon also scored a 3-0 win over Rakhmankul Avatov of Kyrgyzstan, while Marcial carved out a 2-1 win over Israil Madrimov of Uzbekistan.

Only the top six boxers in the weight classes of Ladon, Bautista and Marcial will go to Doha.