MANILA – After a bizarre outcome, Rogen Ladon of the Philippines had to contend with a silver medal in the flyweight division of the men’s boxing in the 18th Asian Games on Saturday at the Jakarta International Expo in Indonesia.
The referee was forced to call an end to the match with just 22 seconds into the second round after a head-butt with Jasurbek Latipov of Uzbekistan opened a cut above Ladon’s left eye.
But while the referee ruled it as a “referee stopped contest due to injury,” the Asian Games website stated that the Uzbekistan boxer won via split decision after garnering the scores 20-18, 20-18, 20-18, 19-19, 18-19 from the judges.
Ladon, a native of Bago City, Negros Occidental, cannot believe the outcome and believed that Latipov intentionally head-butted him to get away with the controversial victory.
“Sadya talaga,” Ladon told SPIN.ph. “Pagpasok ko, bigla din siya pumasok sa akin. Siyempre, napakalaking panghihinayang. Inaasam natin iyong ginto kaya talagang dismayado ako.”
Ladon was the aggressor in the first round as he connected with stiff jab-straight combinations toward Latipov, who was largely inactive and managed only to throw a punch when the two were on a clinch.
NO PROTEST
The Filipino was again on attack mode in the second round. His attempt to put Latipov in the ropes resulted into the head-butt that reopened an old wound on the top of the Negrenses left eye.
“Talagang amin talaga first round kasi wala siyang suntok na ano talaga. Hindi nga siya makatama e. Mas marami pa akong suntok na ano sa kanya,” he added. “Kuha ko na iyong laro. Sabi nga ng coach niya sa akin, bilisan ko laro ko.”
But Ladon said his camp will not bother contesting the result, citing the long process and the fact that the AIBA – the world governing body of amateur boxing – is headed by an Uzbek.
“Hindi ko na iniisip iyon (protest). Sila na bahala diyan. Hindi naman natin hawak ang judges. Sila ang nagdedesisyon kaya hindi na ako nag-aano. Kapag nagreklamo tayo, matagal na proseso iyon. Dami pang pagdadaanan,” he said.
‘LADON WON THAT’
Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) secretary-general Ed Picson said Ladon should be the winner if the outcome was really a split decision. Latipov was practically not throwing a punch in the opening round, he said.
“We were confused as well,” Picson said. “Because the announcement was it was RSCI – referee stopped contest due to injury. In which case, the injured boxer loses because the injury was caused by a legal punch.”
“Now, if it were a clash of heads, unintentional, then you go to the scorecards. But then again, as you saw, the scorecards reflected that the Uzbek won both rounds. So there was no way that we could win it,” he added. “Ladon won that. No doubt about it.”
MARCIAL GETS BRONZE
Eumir Felix Marcial, meanwhile, settled for a bronze medal in the middleweight division after an equally controversial split-decision defeat to Ismail Madrimov of Uzbekistan in the semifinals Friday night.
Despite Marcial dominating the third round and staggered Madrimov multiple times, the judges only deemed it as a 10-9 round, allowing the Uzbek to escape with the scores 28-27, 28-27, 28-27, 27-28, 27-28.
“I thought Marcial and Ladon won their matches,” said ABAP president Ricky Vargas. “But that’s boxing for you. It’s so subjective. Even if all of the people watching thought our boxers won, the judges still gave it to the other side.”/PN
