Two boxers to Golden Gloves meet final

JAKARTA (JP): Flyweight Hermansen Balo and featherweight Nemo Bahari, two of the several amateur boxers being groomed for the 12th Asian Games in Hiroshima, punched their way to the final of the Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournament in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, on Thursday.

Suara Pembaruan reported that Hermansen, who hails from East Nusa Tenggara, knocked out Johnny Muis from South Sulawesi in the second round in a clearly one-sided match.

Hermansen performed aggressively right from the start. He put an end to the issue of who was top man when he sent two shattering straight rights into Johnny's face, bringing him to the canvas.

Nemo's match proved to be more interesting as he faced a much more formidable Rico Maspaitela from Jakarta.

This match was tight from the start, with numerous exchanges of impressive blows by the pugilists.

Even though he suffered cuts and bleeding from his lips at the end of the first round, Nemo kept up his fighting spirit and delivered one especially strong upper cut to Rico's face in the fourth round.

Nemo outscored Rico in the end to take the match.

The final will be slugged out tonight. (hdj)