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Tañamor to face African champion in first round
Source : Staff   
Saturday, 09 August 2008 12:07

BEIJING: Our very own Harry Tañamor will not cross paths with hometown hero and top favorite Zou Shiming early in the day.

The bad news is that the lone Filipino campaigner in the boxing competitions of the 29th Olympic Games found himself in a group filled with other “heavyweights’’ like American Luis Yanes, Thailand’s Amnat Ruenrong and Tajikistan’s Sherali Dostieb.

“A good and a bad draw,’’ said boxing president Manny Lopez, shortly after he attended the draw that will see Tañamor make his debut on August 13 against African champion Manyo Plange of Ghana.

“Wala si Shiming pero marami ding mabibigat sa grupo ni Harry,’’ said Lopez, referring to Yanes, Amnat and Dostiyeb, all battle-tested fighters whom the big boss of local boxing respect so much.

The 29-year-old Tañamor, will climb the ring for the first time in his second Olympic stint at around 7 p.m. on August 13 against a Ghanian pug who went down to the light flyweight division after an unsuccessful campaign as a flyweight in last years world championship in Chicago, Illinois.

Once he gets past the Ghanian, Tañamor, who stayed at the Village and did not join Lopez and coach Pat Gaspi in the drawing of lots on Friday morning, he will fight either Salvador Paolo Carvalho of Brazil or Morocco’s Redouane Bouchtouk in the second round.

“Ganyan naman yan, pahirap ng pahirap habang tumatagal. Sana ma-upset na yung mga magagaling,” Lopez said in light vein, adding that Amnat, Yanez and Dostiyeb are the three fighters who should be getting most of the respect in Harry’s group.

But Harry is not new in meeting and beating two of these three boxers.

In the last Chicago qualifier, Tañamor beat Yanez, 17-7, in their quarterfinal round bout before crushing Amnat, 18-8, to make the finals against Shiming, who showed he’s the man who could give China its first Olympic gold medal in boxing by beating Tañamor in the finals, 17-3.

According to Lopez, Harry has yet to meet Dostiev, who debuts against Cuba’s Yampier Hernandez in what could be the most anticipated fight in the 13-bout program scheduled in the lightest of the 12 divisions in the sports.

Shiming, who has three wins against two losses in his personal duel with Tañamor, has a relatively easy first round assignment in Venezuela’s Eduard Bermudez Salas, while Amnat takes on Kenya’s Wanjau Suleiman Bilali.

Lopez said Tañamor had mixed emotions when told of his first round bout, and the names of the tough fighters included in his group.

“Alam kasi niyang kaya ang unang kalaban pero mahirap na pagdating ng quarterfinals,” Lopez told Filipino sportswriters by phone when he got back at the Athletes Village.

His face lighted up a bit when he learned that Shiming is in the upper half of the draw, according to Lopez.

Aside from tae kwon do, it’s in boxing where Team Philippines hopes to strike a medal of any color.

Despite sending three or more boxers in the last two Summer Games, the boxing team went home empty-handed in a series of letdowns that had sportsmen back home asking for the heads of the people presently running the association.

With his father, former Manila Mayor Mel Lopez, at the helm of the association, boxing gave the Philippines its second silver medal through Mansueto “On­yok” Velasco during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

The feat of Velasco duplicated what Anthony Villanueva had done while campaigning as a featherweight in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

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