Petecio favored against Irie in finals

By LITO DELOS REYES

DAVAO CITY — Nesty “Nesh” Petecio of Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur is favored to win against Japan’s Sean Irie in the finals of the XXXII Olympic women’s featherweight (54-58kg) division set on Aug. 3 at the Kokugikan Arena in Japan.

The 29-year-old Petecio has nipped a taller Irma “Butterfly” Testa of Italy to advance into the finals while Japan’s Sean Irie beat Great Britain’s Karriss Artingstall by a split decision in another semi-final match.

However, it is not the first encounter between Petecio and Irie.

Irie, 20, won her debut against Petecio via a split decision last April 19, 2019, in Bangkok, Thailand.

But Petecio tied it with a majority decision last Oct. 10, 2019, in Russia.

Irie came back with her own majority decision against Petecio last March 9, 2020, at the Prince Hamza Hall in Amman.

It will be the fourth encounter between the two.

Petecio (64W-22L-0D, 1KO) defeated Democratic Republic of Congo’s Marcelat Sakobi Matshu in her first bout last July 24.

She then beat the top seed and world no. 1 Lin Yu-Ting of Chinese Taipei’s via a 3-2 split decision in July 26.

In the quarter-final round, Petecio scored a unanimous decision over Colombia’s Yeni Arias, who is a bronze medalist in the 2019 Pan American Games.

Irie (10W-2L-0D), on the other hand, first won over El Salvador’s Yamileth Solorzano by a unanimous decision.

She then crushed Tunisia’s Khouloud Halimi before setting a split decision against Romania’s Claudia Nechita in the quarter-final round.

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