YEREVAN, Armenia – Two neophytes in the PLDT-ABAP national team had their baptism of fire in the ongoing AIBA World Youth Championships at the Karen Demirchyan Sports Complex here.
Jade Bornea, out of General Santos City, came away with flying colors. Mandaluyong’s Jonas Bacho was not as fortunate, losing by a hair.
Besides the sub-zero weather, both boxers were handicapped by drawing veterans in their first international match.
Bornea however, oozed with confidence and delivered sharp combinations to take all three rounds in routing Latvia’s Dimitris Zaharovs, who has fought in several foreign competitions in Russia and Kazakhstan, including a previous World Championships.
So dominant was the sprightly 18-year-old Bornea (his twin brother Jake is also in the national pool) that he scored almost at will, attacking his taller opponent with crisp combos and then quickly flitting away from the counter-punch. The coaching staff however reprimanded him for a bit of showboating in the last
round. Final score was 19-6 for the young Filipino.
Bacho, on the other hand, had a herculean task from the get-go. Tall for a bantamweight (56 kg.) at 5’9″, he was also reed-thin coming to the tournament, a full 2 kilos underweight days before the fight. /abap