Laurente loses to Kazakh, bows out of Asian Jrs boxing

PUERTO PRINCESA, Palawan – Criz Laurente absorbed a stinging loss to Kazakhstan’s Makhmud Sabyrkhan in the 48 kg light flyweight quarterfinals and bowed out of the ASBC Asian Junior Boxing Championships at the Puerto Princesa City Coliseum here yesterday.

Four of the five judges gave the nod to Sabyrkhan, thus making Laurente the first casualty among Filipino boxers competing in the 15-16 years old Asian competition hosted by the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines.

Laurente won the first round in the judges’ scorecards, but lost the next two.

The Gen. Santos City native opened his campaign by defeating China’s Cai Yujun in Wednesday’s preliminaries, and was hoping to beat his Kazakh foe.

But over-eagerness may have played a role in Laurente’s defeat, much to the surprise of even the Kazakh officials, who were impressed with the Batang Pinoy and Palarong Pambansa standout’s performance against the Chinese.

Laurente’s exit left Kenneth de la Peña, John Vincent Pangga and Norlan Petecio to carry the fight for the Philippines in the competition supported by Palawan Gov. Jose Ch. Alvarez, City Mayor Lucilo Bayron, Criz Laurente Philippine Sports Commission, MVP Sports Foundation, Smart, Maynilad, PLDT, Wesing, Meralco, Meralco One Foundation, Philippine Airlines, San Miguel Corporation and Hotel Centro Puerto Princesa.

Pangga was facing United Arab Emirates’ Saif Alkharoosi in the 50 kg flyweight division, De la Peña battling India’s Soy Selay in the 44-46 pinweight class and Petecio meeting Sherzod Kodirboev in the 60 kg lightweight category at presstime.