MANILA – Negrense amateur boxer Ian Clark Bautista settled for a bronze medal finish in the ASBC (Asian Boxing Confederation) Elite Boxing Championships 2019, which culminated on Friday at the Hua Mark Sports Complex in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental native settled for the bronze after surrendering a split decision loss to Nodirjon Mirzakhmedov of Uzbekistan in the semifinals round of the bantamweight division.
Meanwhile, Filipina Josie Gabuco captured a gold medal in the light flyweight division when she defeated Kim Hyang Mi of North Korea in the tightly contested championship match.
The 32-year-old Gabuco, a world champion in 2012 and a 15-year veteran in the national squad, beat Mungunsaran Balsan of Mongolia in the semifinal round and Lhamo Tandin of Bhutan in the preliminaries.
“She’s a talented girl with a lot of heart and has the ability to confuse the enemy. In the finals match, she made the North Korean lass miss so many punches and delivered her own ones and twos to seal the deal,” said Gabuco’s coaching consultant Don Abnett.
The Philippine delegation also has a bronze medal in the competition courtesy of John Nobel Marvin, who was defeated by Bek Nurmanganbet of Kazakhstan in the finals of the light heavyweight division./PN
