Aira Villegas flew under the radar heading into the Paris Olympics, with the spotlight mostly centered on Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, and Eumir Marcial – all fighters who won medals in the Tokyo Olympics and were expected to reach the podium anew in Paris.
But now, Villegas is knocking on the doors of a semifinal berth in the women’s flyweight (50kg).
Villegas has already notched two impressive victories, earning her a spot in the quarterfinals. One more victory will guarantee the southpaw a bronze medal.
The 29-year-old native of Tacloban City sent a strong message to the rest of the field when she eliminated Yasmine Moutaqui of Morocco in the Round of 32 by unanimous decision.
Moutaqui bagged a bronze medal in the minimumweight division at the 2023 IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships held in New Delhi, India. She is also a two-time gold medalist at the African Championships and the number three ranked minimumweight in the world.
In the Round of 16, Villegas outboxed Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria, who is seeded second in the Paris Olympics.
The Algerian won the 2019 African Games flyweight gold medal after upending Moutaqui in the final.
Boualam went down to light flyweight for the 2023 African Games and claimed her second gold medal. She has also clinched two golds and two silvers in the African Championships.
Villegas will face another tough task in the quarterfinals against hometown bet Wassila Lkhadiri of France, who is seeded seventh in the competition.
The 28-year-old Lkhadiri drew a bye in the Round of 32 and earned a questionable 4-1 decision over Daina Moorehouse of Ireland in the Round of 16. Four out of the five judges had their scorecards even at the end of round two.
Moorehouse appeared to have had the better of the exchanges in round three, yet three out of the four judges gave the round to Lkhadiri, to the dismay of the Irish and her corner. Another judge inexplicably scored it a 30-27 shutout for Lkhadiri.
It would be a mistake, though, to think that just because Lkhadiri struggled against Moorehouse, she would be easy pickings for Villegas.
Moorehouse would have been a difficult match-up for anyone, as the Irish 4-foot-11 buzzsaw was a constantly moving target who was also tirelessly moving forward.
During the 2019 Women’s European Amateur Boxing Championships, Lkhadiri barely missed out on the finals after falling by split decision to former world champion and former European champion Elena Savelyeva of Russia in the semifinals.
Lkhadiri took a leave from boxing from 2021 to 2022 for 16 months to give birth to her daughter Ayleen.
She came back better than ever.
In the 2023 IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships, she eliminated 18th Asian Games gold medalist and 19th Asian Games silver medalist Chang Yuan of China in the Round of 64.
She followed this up with a 4-3 split decision over Tsukimi Namiki of Japan – who herself won a bronze in the Tokyo Olympics, a silver in the 2022 Asian Championships, and a bronze in the 2018 World Championships.
Lkhadiri picked up two more wins after, getting past world No. 21 Anush Grigoryan of Armenia and world number three Rabab Cheddar of Morocco to reach the semifinals.
There, she failed to overcome two-time Asian Championships gold medal winner Nguyễn Thị Tâm of Vietnam.
Villegas saw action in the same tournament. She lost her first bout in the Round of 32 to world Bo. 21 Zlatislava Chukanova of Bulgaria.
The Filipina managed to exact payback on Chukanova during the 2024 Olympic Qualifiers held last March. Villegas downed the Bulgarian by unanimous decision.
So far, in 2024, Villegas remains undefeated.
She has won nine bouts in four events – the Canberra International Challenge in Australia, the Boxam International Tournament 2024 in Spain, the Olympic qualifiers in Italy, and the Paris Olympics.
Among those she has beaten this year are world No. 18 Caitlin Fryers of Ireland, two-time World Championships gold medalist and No. 11 Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan, and No. 2 Boualam.
One opponent that both Villegas and Lkhadiri have fought this year is two-time Australian national champion Monique Suraci. Villegas nicked Suraci by split decision last January, while Lkhadiri dropped a split decision to the Australian last April.
Villegas has been counterpunching her way to victory in her first two bouts thus far in Paris.
Villegas will need to do much more against Lkhadiri, who relentlessly applies pressure on her opponents.
Anything less than a convincing performance could dampen Villegas’s chances of advancing to the semifinals, as Lkhadiri will have the home crowd roaring at every punch she throws, potentially swaying the judges in her favor.
