Boxer Suarez needs no. 2 ranking to get to Rio Olympics

FILIPINO lightweight Charly Suarez (in red) tags Iraq’s Ammar Jabbar Hassan with a left during their quarterfinal bout at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, on Monday. The veteran Suarez prevailed on points. NINO JESUS ORBETA

Boxer Charly Suarez needs to push himself a notch higher to earn a fabulous trip to Rio de Janeiro.

The Incheon Asian Games silver medalist could earn an outright slot to the 2016 Olympics if he ends up at least No.2 in the lightweight class of the Aiba Pro Boxing Tournament.

So far, Suarez is running third and must emerge victorious in his next fight in Uzbekistan later this month for a crack at an automatic spot.

“If he overtakes the number two boxer in his weight class, he qualifies to the Olympics,” said Ed Picson, executive director of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines, Tuesday at the Philippine Sportswriters Association forum.

Professional in nature, Picson said the APB is a collection of the world’s top 80 amateurs in 10 weight classes where the two best ranked boxers in each weight division advance to the Olympics.

Hurshiv Tojibaev of Uzbekistan is the leader in the APB lightweight class while Dimitry Polyanskiy is ranked second.

National team coach Boy Velasco said the 27-year-old has a 3-3 win-loss record in the APB. Suarez won his first outing and lost three in a row before winning again twice.

According to Picson, another window of opportunity will open up in case Suarez fails to unseat Polyanskiy.

“APB and WSB (World Series of Boxing) boxers ranked third to eighth will slug it out in another qualifying tournament for the Rio Olympics. That’s another window for Charly,’’ said Picson during the weekly forum presented by Accel, Shakey’s, San Miguel Corporation and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.

Suarez didn’t qualify in the Aiba World Championships in Doha, Qatar on Oct. 5-15 after failing to reach the medal rounds of the recent ASBC Asian Boxing Championships in Bangkok. The finalists in the world championships gain automatic seats in Rio.