Barriga is the smallest among the entries in the light flyweight category. But the the 19-year-old native of Panabo town in Davao, Philippines, has fought bigger fighters on his way to the qualifying rounds.
One of his bigger opponents in the qualifying matches was Zou Shiming, an Olympic gold medalist from China. Shiming is the biggest threat to other fighters in the light-flyweight category. Barriga lost to Shiming in their first encounter during the elimination in Azerbaijan last October.
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The 19-year-old Baririga will see action again in the
round of 16 against Birzhan Zhakypov of Kazakhstan on Saturday.
Barriga dominated the fight from the opening round scoring a knockdown, leading to a standing eight count in the first round.
Scoring 5-2 over nthe taller Italian foe, Barriga continues to pummel Cappai with left and right combinations to finish the second round with a 9-4 score in his favor.
In the last round Barriga continued his attack over the helpless Cappai to further cement his victory with an impressive finish up to the end of the round. Final score was 17-7 in favor of Barriga.
Barriga is being trained by his coach
Roel Velasco, who is a Filipino bronze medalist in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
