LIGHT middleweight Ronald Chavez Jr. and lightweight Riza Pasuit fashioned contrasting wins yesterday (Saturday in England) over their respective foes in the World Boxing Championships for Elite Men and Women at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England.
The son of former Asian champion and 1992 Barcelona Olympian turned national coach Ronald Chavez Sr., the younger Chavez set the tone early to carve out a close 3-2 decision over Irishman Mathhew McCole in his opening round clash.
Three judges saw it 29-28 in favor of Chavez Jr., while the others had it 29-28 for the Irish pug in the first world competition organized by World Boxing, the new amateur global boxing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee.
The Pinoy bet will be up next against French Olympian Makan Traorea, who whipped Taiwanese Kan Chia-wei 5-0, today (Tuesday in England) for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Impressive was Pasuit, a 2023 Cambodia Southeast Asian Games silver medalist, who stopped Saudi Arabia’s Ragad Al Naiimi near the end of the second round for a rousing start in the competition.
Pasuit will be up next against Brazil’s Rebeca Santos, who drew an opening-round bye, tomorrow for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Scheduled to fight last night was Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Carlo Paalam, who was to face Colombia’s Reyes Alcantara in the first round of the men’s 55-kilogram division.
