No boxing protest allowed
Filipina featherweight Nesthy Petecio’s shock loss to China’s Yin Jun Hua by a 3-2 split decision in the boxing preliminaries at the Asian Games the other night raised a cloud of doubt as to the ability of judges to score with impartiality and competence in Jakarta. There is no protest allowed in the sport so Petecio just had to grin and bear it.
ABAP executive director Ed Picson was up in arms over Petecio’s setback and has conferred with technical delegate Angel Villareal of the US on how to assure fairness in scoring fights, looking forward. On the first day of boxing competitions, two Philippine bets fell by the wayside, Petecio and welterweight Joel Bacho who lost a 4-1 verdict to Iran’s Kazemzadeh Poshtir Sajjad.
The Philippine boxing team is composed of Petecio and flyweight Irish Magno for women and lightflyweight Carlo Paalam, flyweight Rogen Ladon, bantamweight Mario Fernandez, lightweight James Palicte, Bacho and middleweight Eumir Marcial for men.
Picson said Yin was slapped a onepoint deduction for continuous holding by Uzbek referee Bekjon Yusupov but it made no difference as judges Kim Jongjin of Korea and Pavel Pavlov of Bulgaria tallied a shutout for the Chinese so their scores ended up 29-27. Judge Ishanguly Meretnyyazov of Turkmenistan saw it 29-27 and Katsunori Hanabusa of Japan, 30-26 for Petecio. Judge Johany Maden of France had it a draw, 28-all then picked Yin the winner to clinch the split decision.
“The French judge was asked to choose the winner because there can be no deadlocks and he chose Yin,” said Picson. “Aside from repeated holding, Yin kept turning her back every time Nesthy attacked but that wasn’t penalized.”
Picson sent a letter to Villareal to put on record the Philippine delegation’s reservation right after the fight. “I’m fully aware that protests are not allowed in boxing,” he wrote. “Hence, this is not a protest letter, rather a reaction and a plea. Except for the Chinese contingent in the audience, it was plain that everyone else felt it was a clear win for our boxer. I will challenge anyone to review a tape of the bout to prove me wrong based on accepted standards in judging boxing bouts, professional or otherwise. I am not protesting. I am, however, questioning the competence/ motivation of three of the judges who were responsible for the decision, namely those from Korea, Bulgaria and France.
“I cannot for the life of me, understand how the Korean and Bulgarian could have given all three rounds to the Chinese boxer. And the French judge for choosing the Chinese after his card returned a tied score. Please note that the referee had given a warning to the Chinese which meant a one-point deduction. And the boxer who was hardly throwing any punches and who kept holding and running away still won.
“At a time when boxing faces the fight of its life in trying to retain its place in the Olympics, the decision casts further doubt on the integrity of our sport. I recall vividly that during the technical meeting, you emphasized that we could expect fairness and integrity in this tournament. I’m afraid your statement has been put in serious question. I therefore plead with you in the name of fairness that the above mentioned three judges not be assigned to officiate whether as judges or referees in subsequent matches involving Filipino boxers. We cannot afford similar controversies to jeopardize and besmirch boxing.”
The morning after Petecio’s loss, Picson spoke with Villareal. “He remembered the fight very well and seemed sympathetic,” said Picson. “I just requested him to look at the fight tape during the daily meeting with the referees-judges. He told me he already decided to do that even before we talked. I also requested that the three judges not be assigned any more Philippine fights. The assignments are drawn by computer and he explained it cannot be manipulated. He promised to look into the possibility of installing ‘filters’ in order to accommodate our request.”