Ladon, Bautista cruise to gold medal round in Thailand Open Int’l Boxing tourney

Rogen Ladon (left) throws a left hook against Chinese Taipei’s Po-Wei Tu in their flyweight quarterfinal match in the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament in Phuket, Thailand. | Photo from ASBC through ABAP

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Two Filipino ring warriors in Rogen Ladon and Ian Clark Bautista cruised to the gold medal round in their respective weight classes in the ongoing Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament on Friday, April 8, 2022, at the sprawling Angsana Laguna Phuket Resort Hotel here.

Ladon, the 2019 Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) flyweight gold medalist asserted his ring dominance by defeating hometown bet Thanarat Saengphet, 4-1.

“Ginawa ko lang ‘yung inutos sa’kin ng coaches na labas-pasok, diskarte lang para makuha natin ‘yung laro,” said Ladon who was coached by Australian Olympic boxing coach Don Abnett along with Ronald Chavez and Roel Velasco.

(I was just doing what the coaches told me to do which was to go in and out, follow the plan so that we can win the fight.) 

“Nakipagsabayan ako sa kanya (sa third round) kasi alam kong kaya ko siya eh. Tapos labas at puntos-puntos para ako lang ang nakakatama tapos siya hindi,” he said.

(I fought toe-to-toe with him (in the third round) because I know I can take his punches. Then I shifted to the in-and-out strategy to pile up points so that I can be the only one who could hit him while his punches missed.)

Ladon, however, will have his back against the wall as he faces Indian Amit Panghal who is the reigning Asian Championships and Asian Games gold medalist in the flyweight division.

At stake is a $2,000 purse for the gold medalist. Panghal advanced to the gold medal round after defeating Than Van Tho of Vietnam, 5-0. 

Meanwhile, Bautista, a 2019 SEA Games bronze medalist scored a knockout versus Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Duong at 1:05 mark in the second round to advance to the gold medal bout in the featherweight division.

Bautista will also have an uphill challenge by taking on 2021 World Championships silver medalist Serik Termizhanov of Kazakhstan who escaped Thai Rujakran Juntrong via split decision in the semifinals. 

Both Ladon and Bautista have already secured two silver medals for the Philippines in the major international amateur boxing tournament organized by the Thailand Boxing Association.

“Rogen showed his experience and that carried him to victory. As far as Ian Clark, that’s the kind of boxing that Ian enjoys toe-to-toe, exchanging punches. With Ian’s punches, that (knockout) was bound to happen,” said ABAP president Ed Picson, who is leading the Philippine delegation here along with secretary general Marcus Manalo.

“The coaches are working on their finals matches. They know who we’re up against and we’ll be prepared,” said Picson.

ABAP’s campaign in Thailand is part of their preparation for the Philippine Team in the upcoming 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam in May. 

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