Thursday, August 19, 2004 Payla decked, loses on points
THIS was not supposed to happen.
Uzbekistan’s Tulashboy Doniorov got third time lucky as he ended Violito Payla’s Olympic bid with a resounding 36-26 victory in their flyweight encounter early Wednesday morning.
Doniorov lost to Payla in their first two encounters, the last in Palawan when he was decked by Payla during the Asian Boxing Championships in the second round.
However, it was a different story yesterday as the 23-year-old Uzbekistani floored Payla in the second round with an uppercut to take the edge.
Despite a furious comeback by the Cagayan de Oro native Payla, Doniorov held on to his advantage for the win.
With the loss, Payla now joins Christopher Camat in the sidelines, leaving three-time Olympian Rome Brin and Harry Tañamor as the only hopes left for the Philippines.
The 31-year-old Brin won his first-round match against the Swedish champion and is set to play Manus Boonjumnong in the round-of-16, while Tañamor, who earned the nod for a bronze medal from Sports Illustrated, will play Sherali Dostiev in the first round of the light-flyweight division.
The Philippines hopes that the four-man boxing team will avoid duplicating its feat in the 2000 Sydney Olympics where all six boxers failed to advance to the medal round. (ML)
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