In an absolute slugfest, Nesthy Petecio gave it her all, eking out a majority decision win against the much-taller Irma Testa of Italy in the 2020 Olympic women’s featherweight boxing semifinals, Saturday at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.
Figuring in a win-or-go-home third round, the 5-foot-2 Petecio ran on adrenaline as she played the inside game against the gassed 5-foot-8 Testa.
Though Testa was able to get a quick breather as Petecio’s shoelace was untied with 1:45 left, the native of Davao del Sur frustrated the Italian with a huge left. An irked Testa decided to grapple with Petecio as the final bell sounded.
Four of the five judges gave Petecio 49-48 cards while one judge scored it in favor of Testa.
“First round, sinunod ko muna yung gameplan ng coaches ko kung effective ba. Pero, nakuha niya ako e kaya nag change plan kami. Umabot kami ng Plan D,” recalled Petecio to One Sports’ Paolo del Rosario.
“Pag di umubra yung Plan A, B kami, tapos C, hanggang umabot ng D. Pag hindi pa makuha lalabas na kami sa ring,” quipped coach Roel Velasco.
Petecio now awaits the winner of Great Britain’s Karriss Artingstall and Japan’s Sena Irie. The bout takes place later in the day.
The 29-year-old Petecio has a chance to one-up Onyok Velasco’s silver feat during the 1996 Atlanta Games if she strikes gold on August 3.
Still, this victory by Petecio will be a moment that will live on for a long time as she had to claw back for the majority of the nine-minute bout.
Petecio had trouble against Testa in the first three minutes as she tried to figure out how to negate the huge height discrepancy Testa held.
But when the going got tough entering the second round, Petecio turned up the aggression, weaving out of Testa’s best shots while landing huge lefts on Testa. A couple of overhand rights followed by a bunch of body shots knotted things up for Petecio while also tiring out Testa.
Then the greatest show of heart was showcased by Petecio to close out the classic encounter between the Philippines and Italy.
“Hindi pa tapos. May isa pa, last one pa po!”
