Filipino medal hope Carlo Paalam put life back to a grieving Philippine boxing team after scoring a unanimous decision against Irish fighter Jude Gallagher in their featherweight clash in the Paris Olympics on Wednesday night (Manila time) at the North Paris Arena.
The 26-year-old boxer from Bukidnon, silver medalist in the Tokyo Olympics as a flyweight, flaunted his vaunted speed and superb footwork to get the better of his young and aggressive Irish opponent to complete the 5-0 shutout in the round-of-16 match.
Paalam’s victory stopped the bleeding for the country’s boxing team, which suffered back-to-back losses in less than a day by Olympic first-timer Hergie Bacyadan and medal hope Eumir Marcial.
Paalam now marches to the quarterfinals where he will face no. 4 seed Charlie Senior of Australia, a 4-1 winner over Vasile Usturoi of Belgium.
The quarterfinals match is set on August 3 at 9:45 p.m. (Manila time), with a win assuring Paalam of landing a podium finish.
Paalam set the tempo of the back-and-forth action from the very beginning, moving around the ring in trying to keep away from the longer reach of his taller opponent, but would score on quick combinations once he managed to get in close range.
That allowed him to take the opening round in close fashion, 3-2.
“Panalo tayo, 3-2. Relax ka lang,” hollered coaches Ronald Chavez and Elmer Pamisa at his corner.
But there was no way for Paalam to loosen up even a bit as Gallagher charged on and kept the pressure on the Filipino.
The veteran pug however, repeatedly backed off the Irish with those 1-2 combo, enough for him to score a shutout in the second round and deterred a final assault by Gallagher in the final round.
Paalam became the first of the remaining Filipino boxers to reach the quarterfinals, with Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas hoping to follow suit.
Villegas gets his chance on August 2 at 2 .a.m. against no. 2 seed Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria in the women’s 50 kg class, while Petecio is set for an August 3 date (2 a.m.) opposite third seeded and home bet Amina Zidani.
