Petecio shuts out foe, guaranteed of bronze in world women's boxing tiff

MANILA, Philippines – Nesthy Petecio overwhelmed Sena Irie of Japan, 4-1, in their quarterfinal clash to assure herself of at least a bronze medal in the bantamweight division of the World Women’s Boxing Championships in Ulan Ude, Russia Wednesday.

Coming off a pair of tough victories over former two-time Olympian and world champion Stanimira Petrova of Bulgaria and Qiao Jieru of China, the 27-year-old Petecio had a virtual workout against Irie, dominating her hapless rival with her quickness and power to fashion out the one-sided win.

The Davao City native now goes for a crack at silver or gold as she slugs it out with England’s Kariss Artingstall, who pulled the rug from under a fancied Yodgoroy Mirzaeva of Uzbekistan, in the semifinal round.

Petecio is aiming to match, if not surpass her silver-medal finish in the annual competition in Jeju City, South Korea in 2014.

She is also using this tournament to sharpen her skills for the 30th Southeast Asian Games in December at the PICC in Pasay City where she will be gunning for her very first gold in the biennial event after three straight silvers.

Another Philippine bet, bantamweight Aira Cordero Villegas was battling top seed Huang Hsiao Wen of Chinese Taipei at presstime, with hopes of joining Petecio in the semis of the event that drew 256 fighters from 73 countries.

Petecio, also an Asian Championship silver medal winner, dictated the tempo early on, landing the more significant punches against her taller Japanese foe that virtually threw wild punches that failed to hit the mark.