Reigning silver medalist Nesthy Petecio lorded over Indian upstart Jaismine Lamboria, starting her hunt to win the Philippines’ first ever gold medal in boxing with a unanimous decision win on Wednesday’s round-of-32 in the 2024 Paris Olympics women’s boxing featherweight division.

The 32-year-old ambidextrous pug from Davao del Sur ran rings around her taller and younger opponent, opting for power punching accuracy, lateral movement on defense, and ring management over the Indian’s volume punching.

Petecio settled for the silver medal in Tokyo 2020, losing in the final against Sena Irie of Japan who employed the same boxing style against the Filipina to win the gold.

That experience must come to the fore in Petecio’s round-of-16 match against hometown hero and reigning European champion Amin Zidani on Saturday morning.

Later at 2 AM, men’s middleweight bronze medalist Eumir Marcial will start his own golden quest against Uzbek big man Turabek Khabibullaev.

(Photo from Nesthy Petecio’s Facebook account)