INQUIRER Sports

PANABO CITY?Three junior boxers from the highly respected Davao Del Norte stable easily made it to the title fights of the 2009 Smart-Abap Mindanao amateur boxing tournament yesterday.

Palarong Pambansa gold medalist Mark Anthony Barriga produced another stellar performance by stopping Davao City?s Alejandro Mensera with one minute and 35 seconds left in the second round of their pinweight clash.

The younger brother of RP mainstay Joel Barriga sealed a gold medal clash against Julius Silva of Davao City.

Silva subdued Jonathan Refugio of Agbayan, Bukidnon, 26-16, on the fourth day of the event, which serves as one of the qualifiers for the Abap national championships.

Rejie Tabanao duplicated Barriga?s feat with a Referee Stopped Contest (RSC) triumph over Carlo Jay Padasan of Davao in 17 seconds of the second round of their light bantamweight fight.

Tabanao will meet Misamis Oriental?s Warren Christopher Raterta, who outpointed Valencia, Bukidnon?s Renan Portes, 45-21, in the other light bantamweight match held at the Panabo Multi-Purpose Tourism Cultural Sports Center.

Raffy Cavan, another product of the Davao Del Norte stable owned by former representative Tonyboy Floirendo, joined Barriga and Tabanao in the finals after a 29-20 win over North Cotabato?s Joemer Lumacad.

Davao City?s Engelbert Moralde, a 21-9 winner over Cabadbaran, Agusan Del Norte?s Ginisis Libranza and a gold medalist in the recent Palarong Pambansa in Tacloban City, will mix it up with Cavan in the junior flyweight finale.

The other junior division winners were light fly Daryl Basadre of Misamis Oriental and bantam Eduardo Edurot of GenSan.