John Nobel Tupas Marvin of the Philippines competes against Adli Hafidz Bin Mohd Pauzi of Malaysia in the finals of the light heavyweight division of the 29th Southeast Asian Games boxing competition. Tupas won to pocket the gold medal. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SEA GAMES POOL
KUALA LUMPUR—It took just 21 seconds for Filipino-British John Nobel Tupas Marvin to make good on his promise to “go grind it out down the trenches.”
In the process, he won his first gold medal for the Philippines Thursday.
“I expected that to happen. Sorry it didn’t last very long,” said the former British Army fighter.
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His slugger-type brand of boxing was the perfect style for the lethargic Adli Hafidz Mohd Pauzi, and it allowed Marvin to knock out his foe just 21 seconds into the first round of their light heavyweight championship bout.
Marvin’s victory came on the heels of Eumir Felix Marcial’s sensational victory in the middleweight class.
Dedicating his victory to teammate Carlo Paalam, who dropped a questionable decision to a Malaysian foe, Marcial ignored the pain from his punching knuckles to beat Thai Pathomasak Kuttiya via unanimous decision.
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“I cried after he (Paalam) lost, that’s why I really tried to win despite my hurting hand,” said Marcial of his left hand, which he injured during the Olympic qualifying last year.
Mario Fernandez, defending champion in bantamweight, bowed to Chatchai Butdee of Thailand via split decision earlier at MITEC Hall 6.
The Philippines thus won two golds and one silver in boxing, which produced five mints two years ago in Singapore.
This time, however, only six weight divisions were played and there were no competitions for the womens class, which gave the Filipinos one gold in Singapore.
The country also took home bronzes through former champion Charly Suarez in light welter and Ian Clark Bautista in flyweight.