No sweat for the pride of Bukidnon.
Carlo Paalam couldn’t help but be proud after punching a ticket to the semifinals of the Southeast Asian Games boxing tournament’s 54kg division with a win over Malaysia’s Daleoniel McDelon Bong in Cambodia on Monday.
The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist didn’t waste time in making his presence felt and went out aggressive in Round 1 on the way to the unanimous quarterfinals victory.
“Nagawa namin [ang] game plan ng mga coaches,” he said.
It was clear in the second round he would go on to win after connecting some telling blows including the clean right straight with less than 30 seconds remaining.
Paalam’s stellar footwork was also on full display, moving side to side gracefully before catching his foe off guard from various angles. Visibly outboxed, his Malaysian foe continued to struggle until the final buzzer.
All five judges scored the fight 30-27 in favor of the Filipino pugilist.
Before this fight, Paalam also outboxed Cambodia's hometown bet Sao Rangsey via unanimous victory in the opening round of the preliminaries.
Paalam bared there’s nothing like beating a foe on his homecourt.
“Masarap talunin 'yung host country, sa lugar na gusto mo pahiyain. ‘Yun mindset ko talaga,” he said on Monday.
Now assured of a bronze medal, the 24-year-old boxer from Bukidnon will face Timor Leste’s Edegar Foe Quintas da Silva in the semifinals.
(With reports from Miguel Dypiangco)
(GM)