JAKARTA—(UPDATED) Rogen Ladon was forced to settle for the silver medal in the 2018 Asian Games boxing competition after losing to Uzbekistan’s Jasurbek Latipov in controversial fashion on Saturday afternoon at the Jakarta International Expo here.

Ladon made it to the finals of the men’s flyweight division despite a deep cut above his right eye, and appeared to have won the first round against Latipov as he landed the cleaner punches and evaded most of the Uzbek’s sporadic attacks.

But a clash of heads opened up a new cut above Ladon’s left eyebrow, compelling referee Piroska Beki to have the wound checked out. The ringside doctor ruled that Ladon could not continue, given the severity of the cut.

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Latipov wound up winning on points, as three judges scored the bout in his favor at that point. One judge scored the bout for Ladon, and the other judge had it tied at 19 at the time of the stoppage.

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The result greatly dismayed Ed Picson, who said that Ladon was “short-changed,” — much like Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial were on Friday night.

Picson is the secretary-general of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines, the sport's national governing body.

“We were confused as well,” Picson also said. “Because the announcement was it was RSCI — referee stopped contest due to injury. In which case, the injured boxer loses, because the injury was caused by a legal punch.”

“Now, if it were a clash of heads, unintentional, then you go to the scorecards. But then again, as you saw, the scorecards reflected that the Uzbek won both rounds. So there was no way that we could win it,” he added.

That the judges gave Latipov the first round irked both Picson and Ladon.

"(Ladon) won that round,” Picson said. “There was no doubt in our minds.”

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Ladon added: “Siyempre na-dismaya ako na hindi man lang siya nakatama, mas marami pa tayong sinuntok na tinama sa kanya pero ganun pa rin yung tawag nila.”

Indeed, Ladon believes that Latipov deliberately tried to open up a cut so as to force a referee stoppage.

“Kumbaga parang sinadya na rin ata niya na ganyanin. Na-ano na rin ako kasi alangan din siya sa akin, lumalaban din ako sa kanya,” he said.

With the result, the Philippines was unable to add another gold to its medal haul in the 2018 Asian Games. The celebrated boxing team, which had entered the competition to high expectations, produced a silver and two bronzes.

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