After Diaz, last boxer out to make PH proud, too

DID Charly Suarez fall short in his fierce fight against his taller foe, the European lightweight champion Joe Cordina?

Post-fight accounts would bare that Suarez, 27, was actually three inches shorter than Cordina, 24, who was listed at 5-foot-10.

Suarez, bristling with power and confidence, however tried to fight taller than Cordina, dominating the second round after a slow start. The fight could’ve gone either way in the third and final round, which saw Suarez dancing away the final seconds, thinking he had scored telling punches enough to secure victory.

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Suarez, declared loser by split decision, would swear he felt he had honestly won, a claim shared by his chief handler, coach Nolito Velasco, brother of Mansueto Velasco, the peppery warrior who won the last Olympic medal for the country, a silver in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

There was however no bitterness in Suarez, who would later be assured by proud countrymen about his gallantry and dedication.

So the next hope for a Philippine medal was pinned on the last of two Filipino boxers in Rio, light flyweight Rogen Ladon.

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Ladon of Bago City was waiting to face Colombia’s Yurbejen Hern Martinez who had beaten Patrick Laurencio of host Brazil in the first round.

The wait would be cut short. What a thrill!

While practically nobody was looking, a Filipino weightlifter, Hidilyn Diaz, 25, who had figured dismally in two previous Olympic stints (Beijing and London), snatched the silver medal in the 53 kg division. She lifted a total of 200 kilograms in the snatch, clean and jerk.

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It was, to say the least, an incredible feat. Hidilyn, the way we first encountered her in Beijing 2008, was a frail teenager, a songbird unlikely to be competitive against virtual vultures in world weightlifting.

It would be worth tracing now how she persevered and stayed on, despite jarring setbacks in the past, to make it a third time in the Olympics and deliver the silver medal that, like it or not, must now feel and shine like gold for the Philippine contingent.

What we remember of Hidilyn was a small, shy aspirant who, as she would reveal, learned to lift weights by fetching pail after heavy pail of water from a far-off well for their poor household in Zamboanga.

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Regarding Ladon, he was actually given a bigger chance to succeed because he’s a natural in the light flyweight (49 kg) division, unlike Suarez who started out as a featherweight.

The International Boxing Association (Aiba) noted yesterday that Colombia’s Martinez “will take great confidence into Monday’s second round clash with fifth-ranked Ladon of the Philippines.”

Nicely put but truth is the sharp, sweet-punching Ladon had clashed with and beaten opponents a lot tougher and more experienced than the aspirant from Colombia.