BAKU, Azerbaijan – Twenty-one year old Ian Clark Bautista of Binalbagan, Negros Occidental ran into a veteran of two Olympics – Beijing and London – in Spaniard Jose Kelvin de la Nieve Linares who ended his Olympic dream on the second day of competitions in the 2016 World Olympic Qualifiers at the Sarhadchi Olympic Stadium here.
The two boxers immediately engaged in fistic give and take from the opening bell and it looked close in the first two rounds. The 3 judges from Kazakhstan, Ecuador and Canada all gave the 29 year-old Spaniard rounds one and two and awarded the last round to the young Filipino navy man.
“We thought Ian won rounds two and three. His opponent was visibly spent by round three but he started showing signs of fatigue starting round two after Bautista kept going to the body from the get-go,” said ABAP executive director Ed Picson.
The loss leaves one more boxer-welterweight Eumir Felix Marcial to try and get one more Olympic slot for the Philippines. Two others, Rogen Ladon and Charly Suarez made it via the Asian/Oceanian Qualifying tournament last March in China.
Marcial, seeded number one in his division, goes up Saturday against German Abbas Baraou who knocked out his opponent from New Zealand on the first day of competitions.
