Host South Sulawesi's boxers grab four semifinal places
Host South Sulawesi's boxers grab four semifinal places
JAKARTA (JP): Host South Sulawesi team secured four semifinal
places at the Golden Glove amateur boxing championships in
Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi as national leading boxers continued
their winning ways.
Welterweight Audy Runtupalit paved his way to a potential
final bout against favorite Aswin Cabui on Monday after he earned
a point decision victory over Dedy Mikaso of West Java. Fighting
before a fanatic home crowd, Audy took the initiative since the
opening bell and, despite the fact that he was not in his top
form, there was no doubt that he dominated the four-round bout.
Audy will now face Joko Suryono of Central Java who stopped
Otong Kosasih of Yogyakarta in the second round of their one-
sided match for a technical-knockout win.
President Cup gold medalist Aswin, who was axed from the
national team for the Asian Games recently, got a bye and
directly reaches the semifinal against his national training camp
colleague Ivan Pioh.
Pinweight Johanes Atbar also delighted his fans by outpointing
Pinten of Central Kalimantan for a semifinal berth. Other two
home pugilists, flyweight Johny Muis and bantamweight Abdi
Amahoru, also marched into the last four round with point
decision victories.
North Sulawesi's ace in the lightweight division Serdy
Pangandaeng stole the show on Monday as he knocked out Denny
Yerisetouw of Maluku to reach the semifinals.
Serdi, who is joining the centralized training camp, was
obviously a gong-to-gong fighter. Demonstrating his well-
connected one-two combinations, Serdi forced Denny to give up in
the third round following a straight landed on his jaw. Even when
the referee finished his counts, Deddy could not regain his feet.
Disappointing
Other national top boxer Herry Makawimbang of West Java, who
will join Aswin on the sidelines during the upcoming Asian Games,
disappointed the crowd with his hit-and-clinch of play against
Hengky Tobias of East Kalimantan. The boring fight ended with
lackluster Herry outpointing his unheralded opponent.
President Cup's best boxer Nemo Bahari will meet Rico
Maspaitella of Jakarta in their highly awaited featherweight
semifinal bout tomorrow. Rico knocked out Asep Badru of West Java
five seconds after the opening bell on Sunday to reach the
semifinals.
Nemo's elder brother Pino will set up a semifinal middleweight
clash against Marcel Tambas of North Sulawesi tomorrow. If Asian
Games gold medalist Pino wins, he will box Albert Papilaya, the
man who will likely oust him to the light heavyweight competition
in Hiroshima's Asian Games in October.
Meanwhile, the national amateur boxing association (Pertina)
will start applying the ranking system in October. Pertina has
planned to issue the national rankings twice a year on April 1
and Oct. 1.
The rankings will be based on performances of pugilists in
each national boxing meet sanctioned by Pertina. Top boxers will
be granted the first seeds in the tournaments they take part in.
"The new system is aimed at boosting the performances of our
boxers, mainly because we want to shine at the 1996 Olympics and
the 2002 Asian Games," Pertina secretary general Didiet Soedijoto
was quoted by Antara news agency as saying. (amd)