Jakarta— Alliance of Boxing Associations of the Philippines Executive Director Ed Picson will bat for the banning of the three judges who handed a dubious decision against Filipina Nesthy Petecio in the 2018 Asian Games Friday night from officiating in fights by Filipino boxers here.
"I will appeal that the judges responsible for this travesty not be assigned to officiate in the coming Philippine fights as judges or referees. I think that’s fair,” said Picson in reaction to the controversial 3-2 loss suffered by Petecio at the hands of Yin Juan Hua of China in their featherweight bout at the Jakarta International Expo.
“There’s really nothing much we can say. We all saw what happened. It’s just so sad that at a time when boxing is fighting hard to retain its spot in the Olympics, something like this happens. It’s heartbreaking,” added Picson referring to a growing clamor to ban boxing in the coming 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to rampant corruption and blatant biased judging in the sport.
Petecio was clearly the winner of her fight against the Chinese, dominating her foe with an aggressive style that has forced Yin to retreat a couple of times. A point has also deducted the Chinese for head-butting Petecio.
A gold medalist in her last fourth international tournaments in India, Poland, Russia and Indonesia, Petecio pressed the action and connected with the cleaner, more effective punches.
But at end of the three-round bout, the referee, who took longer than the usual time to announce the winner, raised the hand of Yin, who advanced to the quarterfinals.
Japanese Katsunori Hanabusa scored it a perfect 30-26, and Turkmenistan’s Ishanguly Meretnyyazov saw it 29-27 for the Filipina, while France’s Johany Maden had it even at 28-28.
Korea’s Kim Jongin and Bulgaria’s Pavel Pavlov scored it 29-27 for Yin, while Turkmenistan’s Ishanguly Meretnyyazov had the same score.
And since no draws are allowed in International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) tournaments, Maden was asked to pick his winner and he chose Yin.
“It was very ugly,” said Petecio’s coach Nolito “Boy” Velasco. “In my experience as a national coach, this one goes down as the most controversial that I have ever seen or experienced.”