Petecio stuns US champ, seeks Aiba World gold

MANILA, Philippines - Nesthy Petecio continued to stun the opposition, beating American world champion Tiara Brown in all three cards to barge into the finals of the featherweight class in the AIBA World Women’s Championship in Jeju Island, South Korea last Sunday.

Petecio baffled Brown, who won the gold in the 2012 staging of the event in China,

Petecio shifted her stance from orthodox to southpaw every round and baffled Brown no end as 2012 gold medalist became frustrated while trying to use her reach advantage against the wily, slippery Davao del Sur native.

In between, Petecio rocked Brown with solid hooks and straights to the head and body and en route to a 40-36, 39-38 and 39-38 verdict, all for the Filipina fighter.

“She has power and longer reach.”

“She could also hit hard and because of her long reach, she kept deflecting my straights. So I turned them into hooks. And they found their mark,” said Petecio.

She guns for the gold against another tall boxer, Zinaida Dobrynina of Russia, who eased out Italy’s Alessia Mesiano in the other semifinal bout.

Russia has four boxers in the gold medal round, while India, Kazakhstan, England, USA and China have two each. Left with one representative in the finals are Italy, Bulgaria, Ireland, Azerbaijan, Panama and the Philippines.