Ladon falls to Russian in World Amateur Boxing semis

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino junior flyweight boxer Rogen Ladon fell short in his semifinal match against Russia’s Vasilii Egorov at the 2015 World Amateur Boxing Championships on Sunday, October 11 in Doha, Qatar.

The 21-year-old from Bago City, Philippines lost a decision on the 3 judges’ scorecards by the tallies 29-28, falling one win short of a guaranteed spot at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“I thought the fight was close but Rogen threw the cleaner punches,” said Ed Picson, the executive director of Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP), in a text message to Rappler from Qatar.

“Then again in close encounters, the Russian’s wild punches would sometimes connect. I thought we got rounds 1 and 3, but obviously the judges thought otherwise.”

Ladon had beaten the number one seed, Joselito Velazquez of Mexico, to enter the quarterfinals before beating Dawid Jagodzinski of Poland to enter the semifinals.

Welterweight Eumir Marcial, the only other Filipino in the tournament, lost a 3-0 decision to Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan in his quarterfinal match on Saturday.

The pair can still qualify for the 2016 Games at the AIBA Asian & Oceania Continental Olympic Qualifying Competition from March 23-April 3 and the Final AOB World Olympic Qualifying Event from June 7-19 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

“Depends if they do well in training,” said Picson. “We’ll have another round of evaluations among our boxers.

“And yes, we’ll field other potential qualifiers.” – Rappler.com