By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Filipina boxing star Aira Villegas is now guaranteed of a bronze medal in the ongoing Paris Olympics women’s boxing event after advancing to the semifinals of the flyweight category on August 4, 2024, at the North Paris Arena.
Villegas had to dig deep in her bag and stay sharp for three straight rounds to eliminate home bet Wassila Lkhadiri of France, scoring a narrow split decision victory to keep her Olympic gold medal dreams alive.
Fresh off a dominant outing against Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria during the Round of 16, Villegas figured in an entirely different situation in the quarterfinal round as she stepped inside the ring in a hostile environment with almost all the fans in attendance supporting their very own Lkhadiri.
Unbothered by the boos and the loud cheers for the French slugger, Villegas amped her work rate from the get-go, knowing that she needed a strong start to survive a boxer fighting on her own turf.
Villegas’ efficient right lead straight punch was working to perfection as it connected several times to Lkhadiri’s jaw which set the tone for the PHL representative.
Despite the pressure that the French pug deployed, Villegas finished the opening round strong and connected a solid 1-2 jab-straight combination that helped convince the judges to swing their favor to the Filipina.
In the second round, Lkhadiri retaliated and didn’t give Villegas any room to breathe as she stalked the PHL representative, keeping her on the back foot for most of the in-ring exchanges.
As a result of Lkhadiri’s effort, the judges scored the bout to an even 1-1 and all boiled down to who wanted it more in the third and final deciding frame.
Villegas then showed her hunger to win in the last three-minute round as she negated Lkhadiri’s hounding pressure by throwing more significant punches in almost every move.
From the backfoot and moving forward, Villegas kept her hands busy and connected several combinations that disrupted Lkhadiri’s clinching strategy.
Villegas then put the cherry on top in the final 25 seconds of the round as she landed a sweet left hook followed by two soft jabs which were enough to steer her to a semifinal qualification in the Paris Olympics.
With the win, Villegas just set up a highly anticipated semifinal clash with former Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey.
