The Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines on Saturday expressed its displeasure over the officiating and judging of the bouts in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, after the semifinal exits of Olympians Nesthy Petecio and Hergie Bacyadan.
ABAP secretary-general Marcus Manalo called for the sport to display integrity after what he deemed unfair judging and scoring that resulted in Petecio's controversial 3-2 split decision loss to Hasanah Huswatan of Indonesia.
READ: Nesthy Petecio suffers shock loss to Indonesian foe in semis
"The sport really has to be better in terms of integrity. Otherwise, baka we don't really deserve to be in the Olympics beyond 2028," said Manalo after the PH boxing team split its assignments on Saturday.
"Hindi natin mapakita sa mundo na may integrity tayo when it comes to refereeing and judging," he stressed.
Manalo believes Petecio's bout in the women's 63-kilogram semifinals should have been a 5-0 unanimous decision win, but she instead suffered a tough loss that denied the Olympian a chance of advancing to the gold medal round.
"Iyong kay Nesthy, very surprising kasi I thought the last round was very clear sa atin. I wasn't even worried about the result. Nag-e-expect na lang ako na sa atin talaga, unanimous," said Manalo.
"Pero naging 3-2 split pa for the Indonesian. Hindi naman bago ito sa boxing, unfortunately. But part of the things that you have to deal with," he added.
Manalo stressed that ABAP won't have qualms accepting defeat as long as it is fair but revealed that the decision not only came as a shock for the Philippine team but also to Thailand's officials and, reportedly, even Indonesia's.
"Hindi bale sana kung aggressive 'yung Indonesian in the last round or if she was throwing accurate punches that were landing. Pero in terms of volume, in terms of accuracy, pareho kay Nesty. So parang walang basis talaga para ibigay 'yung last round dun sa Indonesia," argued Manalo.
"Even the Thai officials couldn't believe the result. Reportedly, even the Indonesian sports minister was surprised by the result. Unfortunately, that's how it is in boxing," he added.