John Marvin didn’t want ‘host country to decide my fate’ in 21-sec gold medal win

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Boxer John Marvin refused to allow himself to be on the receiving end of a dubious decision in his first gold medal match for the Philippines at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, as he defeated his Malaysian foe Adli Hafidz Mohd Pauzi in just 21 seconds. 

The referee stopped the fight after two standing 8 counts, with Marvin punctuating the fight with a lethal 4-punch combination to the face. 

“Yeah that was mainly one of the reasons,” Marvin told reporters of finishing off his opponent so swiftly that fans packed inside the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre here on Thursday, August 24 didn’t even realized what had happened. 

“I didn’t want to be on the end of a decision where it was gonna be left in the host country’s hands to decide my fate.” 

The 24-year-old Fil-Brit won his first gold medal fighting for the Philippines as well as the second and final boxing gold medal in these Games. He already knew coming in that he must win convincingly to avoid the judges making the decision and possibly favoring the hometown bet. 

The Philippine boxing team had already been rueing the questionable loss of light flyweight Carlo Paalam to Malaysian Muhamad Redzuan this past week, and the remaining boxers have rallied around their comrade to avenge the defeat. 

“It is a little bit of revenge obviously for that reason,” Marvin said. “I understand there’s been some touchy decisions but that’s neither here nor there. I’m here to box for the Philippines and I’m here to win.” 

(READ: The worst controversies so far of 2017 SEA Games boxing)

Marvin, a native of the Isle of Wight in England who also fights for the British Army boxing team, aggressively capitalized on the Malaysian while his hands were down, leaving his face unguarded. 

“You come out with your hands down you’re gonna get hurt,” he said. “The training’s nails. And we get in there we get in there to destroy people. Nothing more, nothing less. We get in there to win.” 

“I just expected to get in there and do the best I could. The fact it finished so soon was fortunate on my part,” he added. – Rappler.com