GENERAL Santos City’s Kenneth de la Peña and Cagayan de Oro City’s John Vincent Pangga did not frustrate their supporters as they won their final bouts to win the gold medal in their division in the 2017 Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) Asian Juniors Boxing Championships held in Puerto Princesa, Palawan last Monday.
De la Peña, who didn’t see action until the semifinal round, defeated Akilbek Mukhtarov of Kazakhstan, 4-1, in the finals to win the gold medal in the Pinweight (44-46kgs.) Division.
Pangga labored his way to the finals before beating Sarawut Sukthet of Thailand via hardly fought 3-2 win for the Flyweight Division (50kgs) gilt.
De la Peña drew bye in the first two rounds before defeating Selay Soy of India, 5-0, in the semifinal round to advance to the finals.
Mukhtarov demolished his opponents in the upper bracket who included Mustafa Rigi of Iran (Referee Stop Contest in Round 3), Baiaman Magzymov of Kyrgyzstan (5-0) and Mukhammadmuso Adburakhmonov of Uzbekistan (5-0) in the semifinal round before he suffered a nearly clean beating in the final match against the Filipino puncher.
Kriangsak Karine of Thailand, Rajesh Kumar Nayak of India and Seyed Jalaledin Alavi of Iran all gave a close 29-28 score and Hamza Ismael Kahlel scored a shutout, 30-26, for De la Peña.
Japan’s Yasutaka Sasaki favored Mukhtarov with a 29-28 score.
Pangga, meanwhile, defeated Amirbek Ibodulloev of Uzbekistan, 5-0, in the first round, demolished Saif Alkharoossi of the United Arab Emirates via RSC-Round 1 in the quarterfinal round and survived Talgt Syrymbetov of Kazakhstan, 3-2, in the semifinal round. (RCM)