ALMATY, Kazakhstan, (PNA) — London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga stamped his class on 2011 SEA Games silver medalist Ngoc Tan Huynh, pulling off a unanimous decision (30-27 on all three judges’ scorecards) to chalk up the PLDT-ABAP national team’s second win in three outings in the AIBA World Boxing Championships here Wednesday.
Flyweight Roldan Boncales won his opening day assignment against Guatemalan Olympian Eddie Barillas on Monday.
Giving up at least three inches in height, the diminutive Barriga scored on crisp counter punches and solid left straights against the charging Vietnamese.
The 20 year-old Panabo native, a two-time gold medalist of the Sydney Jackson Tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, also used his vaunted speed and footwork to defuse Ngoc’s reach advantage.
Barriga, however, faces a tougher foe in the next round, Yosvani Veitia Soto of Cuba, the number five seed in the tournament.
The 21-year- old Cuban champion lost to China’s vaunted light flyweight Zuo Shiming in the London Olympics but many there thought he was robbed of victory.
Soto is a seasoned internationalist, having been a World Series of Boxing (WSB) campaigner and has won tournaments in Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Mexico and others.
“Okay lang ‘yon”, declared Barriga. “Pareho lang naman kami nag ensayo at nakita ko na naman ang laro niya. Paghahandaan ko na lang siya nang mabuti. Kondisyon din naman tayo.” (That’s okay. We both trained hard and I’ve seen him fight. I’ll just prepare well for him. I’m also in good shape).
Meanwhile, Valencia, Bukidnon’s Mario Fernandez enters the ring in the 56-kg bantamweight class at the Baluan Sholak Palace of Sports Thursday against Guyana’s two-time national champion Imran Khan.
Earlier, 2011 SEA games gold medalist Dennis Galvan fell victim to a quick-punching boxer from Azerbaijan, Gaybatulla Gadzhialiyev, Tuesday to crash out of the tournament.
Galvan, 21, tried vainly to launch an attack but Gadzhialiyev, a veteran of the London Olympics and seeded 10th here, proved too slick, countering with solid hooks and straights to score a unanimous decision over three rounds.
The Filipino coaches are Nolito and Roel Velasco and Ronald Chavez.