PAALAM DOWNS WORLD NO. 1 ZOIROV, ENTERS SEMIFINAL ROUND!
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 03 Aug 2021
Carlo Paalam is yet giving another gold medal shot for the Philippines when he won his match against Rio Olympian gold medalist Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in the boxing flyweight quarterfinal at the Kokugian Arena in Tokyo, Japan Tuesday in the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Paalam was very sharp in the first round coming in and out to outpunch the world no. 1 flyweight tagging Zoirov with lightning shots to the head and body. All the judges, Muhammad Arisa Putra Pohan of Indonesia, Beau Campbell of USA, Hichem Menchaoui of Tunisia, Alejandro Barrientos Martinez of Cuba and Diarmuid Macdiarmada of Ireland, gave the first round to Paalam 10-9.
In the second round Zoirov made it close as he began to connect against Paalam although the Filipino connected as well but after the first minute mark, the two had a clash of heads where Referee Pavlo Vasylynchuk of Ukraine called a halt to the contest and had Paalam checked first by the ring physician. Paalam had a small cut in his forehead wherein the ring doctor signaled to the referee that the boxer in blue can continue fight. Vasylynchuk then had Zoirov examined next where the Uzbek had a huge cut in his left eyebrow. This time the ring doctor told the referee the fighter in red could not continue which put the result of the fight to the hands of the judges.
Paalam throws a right at Zoirov.
The ring doctor signals to Referee Pavlo Vasylynchuk that Zoirov could not continue.
Four of the five judges gave the second round to Paalam, 10-9, sending the Filipino to the semifinals with a 4-0 victory over Zoirov who was utterly disappointed for failing to defend his Olympic gold medal.
Paalam, 23, who defeated Brendan Irvine of Ireland in the round of 32 and Mohamed Flissi of Algeria in the round of 16, will now face Ryomei Tanaka of Japan on Thursday, Aug. 5 for the right to fight for the gold medal. The loser of that fight will go home with a bronze medal. Tanaka won his quarterfinal match against Yeberjen Martinez of Columbia.
The Philippines is now assured to have its richest medal harvest in Olympic history with three medals in boxing in addition to the gold medal already won by Hidilyn Diaz from weight lifting. Nesthy Petecio will gun for the gold at around 12:00 noon today against Japan's Sena Irie in their women's featherweight final. Middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial will try to enter into the gold medal picture when he faces world champion Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine on Thursday, Aug. 5.
Carlo Paalam (R) drops to his knees after hearing he won the match against Zoirov (L) who lost his balance and also goes down to the canvas in defeat.
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