Parrenas, Tipon snare golds

TAMPERE, Finland — Warlito Parrenas and Joan Tipon underscored their readiness for next month’s Southeast Asian Games in Bacolod City as they beat their respective rivals to bag the gold medals and power the Philippines to a runner-up finish in the 26th Tammer International boxing tournament at the Pynnikki Hall here Wednesday.

Parrenas and Tipon outclassed their respective opponents as they made true an earlier pledge to exact revenge for their fallen teammates and went on to win the golds that also gave Team Philippines second runner-up honors in the event competed in by 19 nations.

The hard-hitting Parrenas, a native of Cadiz City, pulled off a 44-22 points decision over Irish Conor Ahern while Tipon dominated the game Ibrahim Mohamad of Jordan for a19-5 card.

"This is a very good finale for our boys entering the last stages of training for the SEA Games. The boys are almost ready to jump into competition for the SEAG after their impressive showings in this tough tourney," said amateur boxing chief Manny Lopez.

The Team RP’s trip was sponsored by the FG Foundation, Ginebra San Miguel, PSC, Pacific Heights and Accel.

Parrenas stepped up the attack and put the pressure on the Irish to seize the initiative in the second round for a 25-19 count. Sensing that he could take the punches of the Irish, the Filipino stood his ground and mounted an all out assault with torrid combination to end the third canto, 31-19.

Tipon, on the other hand, clearly outclassed Ibrahim of Jordan to win on points, 19-5. After absorbing a two-point deduction in the first round, Tipon rallied for a 5-2 lead in the first round and a 7-3 edge in the second before pulling away from the Jordanian with a 14-5 spread in the third round.