An Olympic dream lifted by a golden performance in the Asian Games close to two years ago went up in smoke Monday night.

Fighting way off-form, Bacolod’s Joan Tipon was unceremoniously bundled out by Uzbekistan’s H. Todjivayev, 30-8, in the first round of the final Asian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournament at the Sports Palace in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The loss leaves Cadiz-born pug Godfrey Castro as the only remaining hope to have a Negrense boxer in the Beijing Olympics in August.

Negrenses boxers have accounted for the last three Olympic medals with Bago City’s Mansueto Velasco winning the silver in Atlanta 2006, four years after older brother Roel seized the bronze in Barcelona. Leopoldo Serrantes of Candoni won a bronze in Seoul, Korea in 1988.

And Tipon, after winning the bantamweight gold in the Doha Asiad in 2006, was considered the next best hope.

But he blew all three chances of making it to the biggest arena in world sport.

In his first try, he bowed out of the first round of the World Championships in Chicago last year, after losing to Thai rival Worapoj Petchkoom.

The Thai denied him an outright Olympic berth again at the AIBA Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Bangkok last January.

Last Monday, Tipon was a shadow of his own self, absorbing punishment from the counter-punching Uzbek.

“It wasn’t Joan who fought today,” lamented RP head coach Pat Gaspi.

To make matters worse, the referee awarded Todjivayev four extra points by slapping the Bacolod-born pug with deductions in the second and third rounds for what he perceived were illegal elbowing and clinching.

But Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines president Manny Lopez readily conceded defeat for Tipon.

"He (Tipon) lost even though the referee deducted those points,” “He was not the Tipon we know in that fight. He was not focused for that fight,” Lopez added.

Cuban consultant Juan Enrique Steyners Tissert said he was surprised by the way Tipon fought.

“I don’t know what happened to Tipon. He was very good in sparring, training but he lost all his shots in the fight,” Tissert rued. “His mind was not in the fight.”

Tipon got off to a promising start, scoring the first point – a right straight to the face of the Uzbek --- but that proved to be his lone highlight.

Todjibayev took a 4-2 lead after the first round and Tipon could not find his rhythm. The Uzbek, though, responded for three points every time Tipon got one on his way to victory.

“What a tragedy, not only for his family but for the country. Our chances in Beijing are getting slimmer by the day,” Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, who will serve as delegation head in the Beijing Games, told the DAILY STAR in a text message.

Castro, a bronze medalist in the Asiad, is a late replacement for the injured Violito Payla. He fights Giesidin Saliec of Kyrgyzstan late Tuesday.

Genebert Basadre saved the day for the Philipines, overpowering Paulus Paunandes of Malaysia, 21-2, to barge into the quarterfinals of the lightweight (60 kg.) division.

Featherweight Orlando Tacuyan Jr., whose father hails from Bacolod, faces Taiwanese Chung Chun-an also late Tuesday, while Delfin Boholst, a welterweight, goes up against Uranchimeg Munkh-Erdene of Mongolia. *CPT

back to top

GCNO standouts on-target in nat’l tilt
Tipon’s Olympic dream shattered
X BAC captures first BUSG title
Palaro medalists to get incentives on Monday