Games-Marcial spearheads Filipino boxing juggernaut in Singapore

By John O'Brien SINGAPORE, June 10 (Reuters) - The Philippines boxing squad dodged and weaved their way to the top of the Southeast Asian Games medals table on Wednesday, proving emphatically to be masters of the region and indicating that the archipelago is well prepared for 'life after Manny'. The country's pugilists have long lived in the shadow of eight-weight world champion Manny Pacquiao with the nation searching for a new star to emerge in the wake of the 36-year-old's meek surrender to Floyd Mayweather last month. They may not need to wait too much longer for a new name for the nation's global diaspora to cheer, however, after 19-year-old Eumir Felix Marcial spearheaded a gold-tinged performance from their team in Singapore. All 10 boxers in the team picked up medals and when the final tally was added up, they will head home with five golds, three silvers and two bronzes, trumping the usual dominant force in the region Thailand, who managed a measly two-gold haul. Leading the way was 2011 world junior champion Marcial, who scored the only knockout of the day with a brilliant display of controlled boxing before felling his hapless Singaporean opponent Jia Wei Tay with a crunching left hook in the second round. Like Pacquiao, Marcial is a southpaw who possesses a full range of punches and combinations as well as a brutal left hook that would trouble a heavyweight if he connected cleanly. "Manny is my idol and I train hard as I want to be like him. I did feel it was a lucky punch today though," he told Reuters. "Hopefully I can make it to Rio (Olympics) next year but there are many stairs to climb before I can think about that, starting with regional qualifiers in Asia." The 11-bout card opened with the first victory for the Philippines in a high-class women's light flyweight bout between 2012 world champion Josie Gabuco and Thailand's Chathumat Raksat, who won a world bronze last year. TERRIBLE SEASON Gabuco was the aggressor throughout and started to score heavily in the second half of the four-round bout, edging a unanimous points decision that led her opponent to collapse in the ring as the result was announced. The victory gave Gabuco a fourth straight SEA Games gold medal and was a welcome boost for the Filipina after she suffered a dismal 2014 season that passed without a single tournament victory. "It was a hard bout for me as she is a really good boxer. I am glad to be back on the top step of the podium after having such a terrible season in 2014," she said. Ian Clark Bautista was another Filipino on a mission after he was eliminated from the Asian Games in South Korea last year, where he and his team felt they were victims of a hometown decision in a bout he had dominated. Bautista was up against another hometown hero on Wednesday and was able to breathe a sigh of relief after he was awarded a split decision victory over Mohamed Hanurdeen Hamid despite appearing to again dominate his battered and bruised opponent. Men's bantamweight Mario Fernandez stopped Thailand's Tanes Ongjunta in the second round of their bout, while lightweight Junel Cantancio completed the country's gold medal haul with a tight win over Vietnam's Van Hai Nguyen. Despite that defeat, Vietnam did bag three golds, two via split decision wins for Thi Yen Nguyen and Thi Bang Le in the women's division before Dinh Hoang Truong captured the last gold of the night in the men's middleweight division. Indonesian light flyweight Kornelis Kwangu Langu was the other winner on the night. (Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)