HAMBURG, Germany – Rogen Ladon’s bid for a podium finish ended in tatters Sunday as the Filipino dropped his round-of-16 light-flyweight match with Zhomart Yerzhan of Kazakhstan in the 17th AIBA World Championship at the Sportshalle.
In a battle of southpaws, Yerzhan won by 4-1 split decision as the judges seemed impressed with his rough and rugged tactics and turned off by Ladon’s wild misses.
Still, Ladon appeared to have the fight in the bag with movement coupled with the telling blows that he landed on the ultra-aggressive Yerzhan.
Yerzhan had beaten Michael Tello Tello of Guatemala in the first round while Ladon had drawn a bye owing to his status as the division’s No. 5 seed.
Jurgen Schroeder (Germany), Anthony Kettlewell (Australia) and Johanny Maden (France) saw it 30-27 for Yerzhan, while Rukman Wekadapola (Sri Lanka) had it 29-28 also for Yerzhan.
Emanuel Ferreira of (Puerto Rico) favored Ladon, 29-28.
Referee David Mark Williams (Wales) had to warn Yerzhan for excessive holding and using his forearms against Ladon’s face but didn’t slap a point.
Although Ladon looked in charge, his inability to force Yerzhan to back off could have been a reason why the judges thought the back-tracking Filipino was struggling.
Ladon, close to tearing up, could not say a single word when asked to comment on the road back to the hotel a couple of hours after striking misfortune.
The 23-year-old Rio Olympian and bronze medalist in the 2015 edition in Qatar just stared blankly, his expression enough to tell everyone that he is utterly distraught.