Tipon makes it 3-0 for Philippines in World Boxing Championship

BAKU, Azerbaijan—Bantamweight Joan Tipon leaned on his vast experience to thwart hard-hitting counter-puncher Alberto Melian of Argentina and make it 3-0 for the PLDT-Abap National Boxing team in the AIBA World Boxing Championships here.

In the first two days, Mark Anthony Barriga and Rey Saludar also won their opening assignments.

Tipon, the 2006 Doha Asian Games gold medalist, is seeing action in his third tournament after being sidelined for more than a year due to an injured shoulder.

In his first tournament, Tipon took the silver medal in the Sydney Jackson Memorial in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He crashed out in the second round of the Asian Men’s Championship in Incheon, South Korea.

With the score tied at 6 in the second round, Tipon decided to trade blows with the Argentine. He landed more accurate punches to earn the close decision and join Barriga and Saludar in the second round.

The Filipinos will try to sustain their drive on Thursday when welterweight Delfin Boholst tangles with Stephan Danyo of the Netherlands in a welterweight (69 kg) match.

Lightweight Charly Suarez and light welterweight Rolando Tacuyan round up the Filipino roster in the event serving as the main qualifier for the 2012 London Olympics.

At least three wins assure a boxer of a slot in the Olympiad.

The boxers are being accompanied by coaches Pat Gaspi, Ronald Chavez and Roel Velasco and Abap executive director Ed Piczon, the delegation head.

The Nationals trip here was funded by the Philippine Sports Commission and PLDT and supported by Accel, Powerade, Adidas and Clusivol.