Pinoy pugilists poised for a golden weekend.
The 12-fighter Philippine boxing contingent came to the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games with one goal in mind: surpass the three gold, one silver, and four bronze medals it won in the last SEA Games held in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The boxing team is in great position to do just that over the weekend thanks to another strong day for the Philippines on Thursday.
Olympic silver medalist Carlo Paalam got the Philippines off to a rousing start, winning his semifinal bout against Timor-Leste’s Edegar Da Silva via unanimous decision. With the win, Paalam booked a seat to the final of the 54kg division—and the chance to add another gold medal to the one he won in the 2019 SEA Games in Manila.
Post-match, Paalam told One Sports’ Paolo del Rosario that the boxing team was dedicating their campaign to the late Ed Picson, who had been the president of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines, which handles the country’s amateur boxing team.
Later in the day, Paul Bascon also entered the final after knocking out Cambodia’s Touch Duavit with a massive right uppercut that caught the Cambodian flush on the chin. The explosive victory towed Bascon to the final of the 60kg category, making him the ninth Filipino boxer with an opportunity to bring home the gold.
In the nightcap, Markus Tongco missed out on being the 10th Filipino boxer to book a seat in a gold medal match, as he faltered versus Vietnam’s Manh Cuong Nguyen in their 92kg semifinal. The fight against Nguyen was Tongco’s international debut, but he will leave Cambodia with a bronze medal nonetheless as only three fighters were entered in the super-heavyweight division.
Paalam and Bascon will join Irish Magno, Riza Pasuit, Roger Ladon, Ian Clark Bautista, John Marvin, and the Petecio siblings, Norlan and Nesthy, in the boxing finals, which will be held over the weekend. Magno and Pasuit booked their finals tickets on Tuesday, while Ladon, Bautista, Marvin, and the Petecios secured theirs on Wednesday.