Battle-ready Carlo Paalam primed to wage war in Paris Olympics

After failing in two previous qualifiers, Carlo Paalam had to hurdle the last passage to the 2024 Paris Olympics in order to make it to the Games for a second straight edition and join four other Filipino boxers to the French capital.

But all it did was gear Paalam up after he fervently spent the last three years preparing to earn what he fell short of in Tokyo in 2021: a gold medal.

Paalam's road to Paris

After a silver medal finish in Tokyo, Paalam almost waved goodbye to another Olympic appearance after stumbling in the first two qualifying tournaments: the 19th Asian Games in 2023 and the first World Qualification Tournament in Italy in March.

At the Asiad, the Bukidnon native fell prey to Uzbekistan's Abdumalik Khalokov in the men's 57kg quarterfinals to bow out of the tourney, where the two finalists clinched berths to the Paris Olympics.

He tried his luck again at the first World Qualification Tournament five months ago. But a shoulder injury during his bout against Mexico's Andrey Bonilla in the Round of 16 ultimately forced Paalam to retire early from the match and exit the tourney.

But he made sure he would not miss the final bus to Paris at the 2nd Olympic Boxing Qualification Tournament in Thailand last month.

There Paalam flaunted his quickness and resiliency, beating Sachin Siwach of India via unanimous decision in the same men's 57kg event to formally punch his way to the Olympics.

What he's up against

Paalam was a beast in Tokyo, drawing three unanimous decision wins in his four games before he succumbed to Galal Yafai of Great Britain in their finals clash.

In the Round of 32, he eked out a split decision against Brendan Irvine, 4-1, but emerged victorious, 5-0, against all of Mohammed Flissiin in the Round of 16, Shakhobidin Zoirov in quarterfinals, and Ryomei Tanaka in the semifinals.

This time in Paris, though, Paalam may be facing a different breed of fighters.

One of the familiar foes Paalam could be meeting at the ring is Khalokov. The Uzbekistan ace knocked out Japanese boxer Shudai Harada in their Asian Games gold medal bout and is tipped to make life harder for his opponents in Paris.

Also seeing action is Kyrgyztan's Munarbek Seitbak, whom Paalam defeated in the Round of 16 of the Asian Games before arranging a duel with Khalokov.

Aside from them, Bulgaria's Javier Ibañez and Spain's José Quiles, both of whom slugged it out in the finals of the European Games, will also participate alongside two other semifinalists Vasile Usturoi and Nebil Ibrahim.
 
Even Philippine boxing team head coach Ronal Chavez, a former Filipino Olympian himself, said Paalam's familiarity with his foes who he either faced in the past or had a training camp before will be crucial for the Pinoy boxer.

"Itong nakaraang training camp namin sa Thailand, halos nando'n lahat 'yung mga magqu-qualify. Talagang nagbabasahan din kung anong laro 'yung pwede kang manalo," Chavez told in a previous interview with 24 Oras' Raffy Tima.

[This past training camp of ours in Thailand, almost everyone who would qualify was there. Everyone was scouting to see which fights you could win.]

—JMB, GMA Integrated News