RIO DE JANEIRO – Charly Suarez gets going the Philippine boxing team’s quest for an Olympic medal as he plunges into action on Saturday (Sunday, Manila time) against Joseph Cordina of Great Britain at the Riocentro Convention Center here.
Suarez is making his debut in the quadrennial meet, one of 28 fighters entered in the men’s 60 kg. class.
From the looks of it, he’ll have his hands full right away on opening night.
Against Cordina, the 28-year-old Suarez will be facing a bigger and younger opponent, who only last year won the gold in the European Amateur Boxing Championships.
Suarez has yet encountered Cordina, 24, other than seeing clips of his past fights in youtube.
“May kaliwa tsaka kanan na suntok. Tapos matangkad siya,” said the Filipino medal hope when asked to describe his British opponent.