By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Nesthy Petecio picked up where she left off and claimed the gold medal during the Boxam Elite Tournament held in Alicante, Spain, last February 5, 2024.
The former SEA Games gold medalist scored a 4-1 split decision victory over Huang Hsiao-Wen of Chinese Taipei to clinch the championship trophy in the women’s 57kg division.
Despite facing the former Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist, Petecio stuck to her game plan and neutralized Wen’s counterpunching prowess.
To do that, Petecio had to calculate her aggression and backpedal away after hitting three straight jab combinations.
Despite a shaky start in pulling off her strategy, Petecio got her timing at the start of the second round and just snowballed her way to the win.
Aside from her discipline in sticking to the game plan, Petecio also had a stellar defensive performance and used her ring control to perfection.
Everytime the Chinese Taipei representative switched stance to target Petecio’s left jaw, the Filipina wisely covered and ducked to her right to prevent any odd sequence.
Before reaching the grand finals, Petecio had to go through Sthelyne Grosy of France in the quarterfinals and Ana Marija Milisic of Switzerland in the semifinals.
Joining Petecio in winning the gold medal in Spain are Rogen Landon, Aira Villegas, and Hergie Bacyadan, also part of the PHL national boxing team.
Landon seized the gold medal in the men’s flyweight division, Villegas in the light flyweight division, and Bacyadan in the women’s middleweight division.
