After years of heartbreak, Ian Clark Bautista finally got his happy ending.
The 27-year-old native of Binalbagan, Negros Occidental bucked a slow start, besting Myanmar’s Naing Latt via a 5-0 unanimous decision win in the 31st Southeast Asian Games’ bantamweight boxing tournament, Sunday at the Bac Ninh Gymnasium in Vietnam.
Bautista won gold in the 2015 Singapore Games.
But what came next were a series of heartbreaks. He finished with bronze during the 2017 Kuala Lumpur games and 2019 Philippine tournament.
Now, after seven years, Bautista is once again the region’s best.
This is the Philippines’ 50th gold overall and second in boxing.
