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Philippines, 17 Mar 2026 |
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FERNANDEZ, SUAREZ FACE TOUGH OPPONENTS IN ASIAN GAMES ROUND OF 16 TODAY By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Fri, 26 Sep 2014  Suarez. Two of the Philippines gold medal prospects in the Incheon Asian Games face tough opponents when boxing resumes today with bantamweight Mario Fernandez taking on Puran Rai of Nepal and lightweight Charly Suarez battling Indian slugger and former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Akhil Kumar of India in the round of 16 with the fights to be telecast by TV5 as part of its comprehensive coverage of the ?Olympics of Asia.? Fernandez, a product of the Amateur Boxing Alliance of the Philippines under its president Ricky Vargas was a product of a nationwide grassroots development program and reasserted his superiority over Thailand?s Doncha Thathai whom he beat in the last South East Asian Games with a fine all-round performance and is expected to triumph over his Nepalese challenger who has some power but doesn?t have the overall skill of Fernandez. Although AIBA predicted that Thathi was ?the fighter to watch? and was a dangerous opponent, Fernandez completely out-boxed the Thai with his hand-speed, quick in and out movement while throwing combinations and using good lateral movement to take the opening two rounds and although judges Albino Foti of Italy and Jones Kennedy Silva Do Rosario of Brazil gave the third round to Thathi, they had Fernandez the winner 29-28. The third judge, Hassaon Zoubid had Fernandez winning by a 30-27 shutout. The Thai southpaw who was ranked four spots above Fernandez in the Asian Championships tried to bully Fernandez into submission but the 21 year old Filipino who won a gold medal at the Lions Cup International Boxing Championships in Sri Lanka earlier this year beating Chinese-Taipei?s Yu Che Li, proved too smart for the onrushing Thai. The opponent of Fernandez, Puran Rai won his opening bout with a good showing against Saudi Arabia?s Yahya Hassan Sharhili behind some solid punches to win a unanimous three round decision. The multi-tiled, 26 year old veteran Charly Suarez is bound to be tested by the heavy-handed Kumar who hammered Nepal?s Purna Bahadur to win by a TKO midway in the 3rd round after the referee gave the Nepalese two standing eight-counts in round one and another eight-count in round two before dominating Bahadur in the third forcing the referee to call a halt to the one-sided contest. Kumar?s coach GS Sandhu said ?Suarez is a good boxer and defeated a very good boxer in (Elnur Abdurimov, the Uzbekistan national champion)? and added, ?let?s see how it goes.? Suarez, cheered on by Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes and the entire team who kept chanting the battle-cry ?Laban! Puso!? showed good hand-speed, connected with solid combinations to outpoint Uzbekistan?s young national champion Elnur Abduraimov. Suarez, eager to please his Gilas Pilipinas colleagues tried to impose his will and score a knockout in the third and final round and in the process threw a couple of wild haymakers that missed, but was clearly the superior fighter. The International Amateur Boxing Association said the Asian Olympic Qualifiers silver medalist who also competed in two seasons of the World Series of Boxing ?attacked more in the first part of the contest? and noted that Abduraimov ?had not got enough experience among the elite athletes yet.? Picson said the scores in Suarez? fight showed two judges had him winning 29-28 while a third judge gave it to the Uzbek fighter by the same 29-28 margin. Kumar who is returning to international competition after a lay-off of three years due to various injuries was dominant from the opening bell against Bahadur with his hands down, the power-punching Kumar went after his hapless rival who appeared awed by the bull-strong Indian. After making the Indian team in an amazing comeback, Kumar known for his daredevil style of fighting said ?I am back and I promise temperature inside the ring will go up when I step in." Suarez has also been dogged by injuries and had a one year layoff which didn?t seem to bother him in his opening bout. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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