INCHEON, South Korea—Charly Suarez moved closer to fulfilling his dream—and, more important, the Filipinos’ clamor for a second gold medal at the 17th Asian Games—after disposing of a pesky foe from Jordan in men’s lightweight semifinals of boxing on Thursday at the Seonhak Gymnasium.
Suarez, the most veteran on the eighth-member boxing team—advanced to the gold-medal round with a 2-1 victory over Mohammad Mustafa Alkasbeh.
Three more Filipinos—light-flyweight Mark Anthony Barriga, bantamweight Mario Fernandez and middleweight Wilfredo Lopez—were scheduled to fight on Thursday night, all hoping to join Suarez in Friday’s finals.
The Philippines broke into the gold-medal column through BMX rider Daniel Caluag on Wednesday.
Suarez, 26 and a veteran of World Series of Boxing, fights Mongolia’s Otgondalai Dorjnyambuu, who survived a peskier and awkward Satoshi Shimizu of Japan, 3-0, in the other semifinal.
Like Suarez, Dorjnyambuu, 26, is also a veteran of the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. He owns a silver from the Asian Boxing Championship here in 2011. The Filipino, on the other hand, has a silver from the 2001 Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.
Alkasbeh looked like the better fighter in the first round, throwing left and right straights that hit their target while often sending Suarez to the rope.
That attacking style prompted Coach Nolito “Boy” Velasco to change strategy in the second round.
“Suarez could not solve the pushes the Jordanian made in the first round so we told him to play his opponent’s game in the second,” Velasco said. “Our boy is the stronger fighter, so when the Jordanian felt his punches, the fight’s complexion changed.”
With that strategy, Suarez, who wore the latest model of boxing shoes by Nike that resembles basketball sneakers, was able to connect solid uppercuts and straights he spiced with accurate crosses, catching Alkasbeh as he tried to dance away.
The coaching staff and crowd expected a 3-0 decision for Suarez, but a Russian judge favored the Jordanian, 29-28. The Chinese and Kazakhstan judges scored it for Suarez, 30-27.
“We were surprised by the score of the Russian judge,” Velasco said.
Boxing Association President Ricky Vargas raised a howl on the decision.
“Our boss [Vargas] got mad at the decision,” Velasco said.
With the victory, Suarez is now 2-0 over the Jordanian. He beat Dorjnyambuu, 3-0, in a tune-up tournament in Kazakhstan two months ago.
Suarez scored a 2-1 triumph over Elnur Abduraimov of Uzbekistan in the first round; toiled against Akhil Kumar of India, 2-1, in the round-of-16; and handily defeated Ammar Jabbar Hasan of Iraq in the quarterfinals, 3-0.
After drawing an opening-round bye, Dorjnyambuu beat Shohrat Durdyyev of Turkmenistan in the round-of-16 and Uulu Sulaimanbek of Kyrgyzstan in the quarterfinals.
Boxing accounted for one of the three gold medals—flyweight Rey Saludar—which the Philippines won in 2010 in Guangzhou. The sport also had one silver medalist—women’s flyweight Annie Albania—and one bronze—light-flyweight Victorio Saludar.