Ramel Macado advances, Nesthy Petecio bows out in Asian slugfest

MANILA, Philippines — Ramel Macado ran away with a 4-1 victory over Ahmadisafa Omid of Iran but Team Philippines suffered a pair of numbing Good Friday defeats in the Asian Boxing Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

The 23-year-old Koronadal City bet dominated Omid with solid combinations and went on to post the lopsided triumph in the lightflyweight division of the event, which drew 313 boxers from 34 nations in the region.

Cagayan de Oro’s Marvin Tabamo, on the other hand, pulled off a 3-2 win over 2017 SEA Games flyweight gold medalist Aldoms Suguro of Indonesia.

But the Pinoys took two stinging losses in the opener of the annual slugfest as Sugar Ray Ocana suffered a bloody gash over his right eyebrow in an accidental clash of heads with Japan’s Daisuke Narimatsu in the first round of their light welterweight bout. The Japanese won via Referee Stopped Contest due to injury (RSC-I).

Nesthy Petecio also bowed to another Japanese bet as 2018 World Youth Championships bronze medalist Irie Sena hacked a 3-2 split decision over the multi-titled Filipina fighter.

Meanwhile, Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines secretary-general and Philippine Olympic Committee communications director Ed Picson was elected to the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) Executive Committee with 36 voting countries in attendance.

In the first Executive Committee meeting the following day, ASBC president Anas Al-Otaiba of UAE nominated Picson to be the official spokesperson of the association with the board unanimously approving the nomination.

Coaches Ronald Chavez , Boy Velasco, Romeo Brin and Mitchel Martinez,  and three-star International referee-judge Roger Fortaleza completed the Philippine delegation, whose campaign is supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.