(UPDATED)
JAKARTA - 2016 Rio Olympian Rogen Ladon finally halted the dry spell for Philippine boxing as he scored a unanimous decision victory against Prem Chaudhury in the Men's Lightweight category of the boxing competition of the 18th Asian Games at the JIExpo here.
The campaign of the Philippine delegation started with four losses as Joel Bacho, Nesthy Petecio, Mario Fernandez, and James Palicte bowed out in their initial matches. The pressure was on Ladon to win but he did not let it affect his performance.
"I wasn't thinking about what happened in their fights because I was focused on what I needed to do," Ladon said after the match. "I knew I just needed to fight in my style because we scouted my opponent well."
From the opening round, it was apparent that Ladon was the better technical fighter. While Chaudhury was charging forward, the Filipino fighter was landing two- and three-punch combinations. Ladon's left straight was especially potent in the match as he caught Chaudhury open multiple times.
The Nepali fell down late in the first round but the referee deemed it a slip. In the third round, Chaudhury scored on his best punch, a left hook that caught Ladon off guard. However, the Filipino ended the fight well as he fought from distance, staying away from trouble until the final bell.
Ladon won via shutout unanimous decision, with four judges scoring it 30-27 and the other 30-26.
The only negative for Ladon in the fight was a cut he suffered on his left eyebrow. The referee said it came from a punch but the fighter was adamant that it was a head butt.
"We were coming in at the same time so we clashed heads," Ladon said. "It's really a part of boxing but the cut is not that bad."
With the win, he moved on to the quarterfinals where he meets Azat Mahmetov of Kazakhstan.
Earlier in the day, the Philippines' bet in the men's lightweight category, Palicte, suffered a unanimous decision loss (30-27 twice and 29-28 thrice) to Shunkor Abdurasulov of Uzbekistan.
"I really did not feel his punches. I felt I won. Even my coaches told me I won. That's why I raised my hand when the decision was being read," said Palicte. "But the judges saw it differently and I can't do anything about it anymore. I just could not accept that two judges did not even give me a single round."
Later Sunday night, Irish Magno joined Palicte on the sidelines after she was outclassed by the taller Pang Chol Mi of Korea in the women's flyweight category. Magno failed to win a single round in any of the five judges' scorecards, underscoring her opponent's dominance.