NESTHY Petecio will face a very familiar foe for the gold medal in the women’s featherweight division of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Home hope Sena Irie advanced to the final on Tuesday after beating Karris Artingstall of Great Britain via split decision. The bout came down to the final moments as Irie got the nod of three judges on similar 29-28 scorecards.
That set up the Japanese fighter for another face-off with the Petecio, who she beat in the quarterfinals of the Asia and Oceania Qualification Tournament last March 2020, preventing the Filipina fighter from gaining an outright seat in the Olympics despite being the 2019 world champion in the division.
The 29-year old pride of Davao had to wait for a year before gaining that Olympic berth following a decision by the International Olympic Committee Boxing Task Force (IOC-BTF) to give the slot to her.
The rivalry, however, not one-sided as Petecio also defeated Irie during her run to the 2019 world title beating the Japanese in the quarterfinal round.
Irie leads head-to-head match-up
Irie, however, beat Petecio in 2019 during her amateur debut, according to Boxrec.com.
Even with Irie’s 2-1 win-loss record against her, Petecio is on the roll, having beaten the best fighters in her division on her way to the gold-medal bout.
Before beating the taller Irma Testa of Italy, 4-1, in the semifinals in the morning session, the audacious Filipina boxer took out world No. 1 Lin Yu-ting in their round-of-16 matchup.
“I’m picking Nesthy for the win,” said the Philippine team's Assue coach Don Abnett.
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