Rival Thailand got the better of the Philippines in Day 3 of the boxing competitions in the Southeast Asian Games. However, three Filipinos made it to the gold-medal round as light flyweights Carlo Paalam and Josie Gabuco and middleweight Eumir Marcial all won their matches to move forward one win away from grabbing the gold.
The first to fall was Aira Villegas, who settled for bronze, as she opened the day's competitions against Thailand's Nilawan Techasuep in the women's bantamweight division. Three judges scored the fight for the Thai boxer, 30-27 and 29-28 twice, overruling the other two judges who had it 29-28 for the Filipina.
The Philippines' woes did not end there as another bet will have to settle for a bronze medal with Ian Clark Bautista running into a brick wall in Thailand's Chatchai-Decha Butdee.
Bautista was also a bronze medalist in the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, also losing to a Thai bet in the semifinals. He moved up in weight in an attempt to find more success but he'll have to make do with more of the same.
Unfortunately for Bautista, he was matched up with the defending SEA Games gold medalist in the bantamweight division. Butdee defeated Filipino boxer Mario Fernandez to win the gold medal in Kuala Lumpur.
Butdee landed the clearer blows as Bautista was left raising his right glove every time he felt he connected to try and convince the judges of his success. Bautista raised his activity considerably in the third round as he may have felt the result was still in the balance. The Filipino pushed forward but Butdee willingly met him in the middle, also throwing heavy combinations.
The Thai pug tasted the canvass in the third round but it clearly came from a push. Bautista hoped it could be the opening that he needed as he attacked relentlessly but he could not turn the fight around.
All judges scored the fight for the Thai, with four of them having it 30-27 and the fifth scoring it 29-28.
It was not all bad news for the Philippines as Paalam avenged his 2017 SEA Games loss to his conqueror Muhamad Fuad Redzuan of Malaysia. Paalam, who was the only boxer not to bring home a medal from Kuala Lumpur, improved by leaps and bounds in the past couple of years as he even managed to pick up a bronze in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
Paalam showed his hunger early in the match as he scored on a standing eight-count against Redzuan. The Filipino dominated the rest of the match to score a shut-out victory with four judges scoring the fight 30-27 and the other 30-26. He will battle Indonesia bet Kornelis Langu for the gold.
To start the second session of Day 3, Gabuco, a five-time SEA Games gold medalist, started like a house on fire against her Vietnamese foe Trinh Thi Diem Kieu. The 32-year-old fighter the Philippines, however, was also on the receiving end of crisp counters from Trinh.
In the second round, it was the Vietnamese who was the aggressor with Gabuco picking her spots from the outside. Gabuco worked hard in the third round and she put her punches together with her Vietnamese foe slowing down. Trinh also clinched a lot more in the third as the referee issued repeated warnings. The Filipino fighter then got a huge advantage when referee Royke Waney from Indonesia penalized Trinh with a point deduction because of excessive holding.
All judges scored the match as a shutout, 30-26, as she moves on to the gold medal match against Endang of Indonesia.
The best performance from the Philippines, however, was saved for last as Marcial, the reigning AIBA World Boxing Championship silver medalist of the 75kg category, made short work of his overmatched Malaysian foe, Mohammad Aswan Che Azmi.
The 2015 and 2017 SEA Games middleweight gold medalist was met by a game contender as Che Azmi stood right in front of him to exchange heavy combinations. However, it was clear who had the heavier blows as Marcial's jab-straight-hook combinations started to take a toll on his younger opponent.
Che Azmi was given a standing eight-count after he was trapped on the corner, absorbing heavy leather and it did not take long before the Japanese referee called a halt to the bout.
With limited entries in the middleweight category, one win was enough to send Marcial to the gold medal match where he will face Vietnam's Nguyen Manh Cuong who also won his semifinal match via referee stoppage.