SPORTS SHORTS 188: CARLO PAALAM DEFEATS HOMETOWN HERO AND IS ASSURED OF SILVER MEDAL , EUMIR MARCIAL LOSSES TO "THE NEW LOMACHENKO" OF UKRAINE
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 06 Aug 2021
Carlo Paalam will fight for the Olympic golden glory in the men's flyweight final after successfully hurdling his opponent, the hometown hero in Ryomei Tanaka of Gifu, Japan at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
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Paalam managed a well executed methodical fight powered by his persuasive counterpunching to orchestrate a unanimous decision win with the scores of 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 30-27, 30-27 on Thursday, August 5, at the Kokugikan Arena.
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His dramatic semifinal victory assured Paalam of at least a silver medal finish in the Summer Games, also the second silver medal won by the country after Nesthy Petecio captured one in her second place ending in the women's featherweight class.
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Once a garbage scavenger in Cagayan de Oro City, Paalam will climax his Olympic golden quest in the final showdown against Great Britain’s Galal Yafai on Saturday, August 7, for a rare opportunity to win the country's first boxing gold medal, and the second gold after weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz's historic achievement.
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Tanaka was aggressive in the first round but Paalam coolly countered his offensive and connected punches to the body and won the scorecards of the five judges.
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In the second stanza Paalam pressed Tanaka and his onslaught tired the hosts' favorite at the time showing solid defense when the Japanese tried to catch up. Paalam continued pounding Tanaka as he ran out of breath in the third round and the Misamis Oriental native won the nod of the judges unanimously with 5-0 score.
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“I’m asking for prayers again from my fellow Filipinos. I will do my best because my opponent is really strong. I just have to trust myself and I hope the Lord gives it to us," Paalam was quoted by Rappler.
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Paalam pulled one of the biggest upset in Tokyo when he conquered 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist and men's flyweight top seed Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals by 4-0 split decision when the fight was stopped in the second round with deep gash just above the left eye of Zoirov.
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Paalam struggled in the earlier phases of his Tokyo Olympics boxing crusade, winning over two-time Olympic veteran Brendan Irvine of Ireland by 4-1 decision in the round of 32 and blanked another grizzled Olympian Mohamed Flissi of Alegeria by 5-0 judges' score in the round of 16.
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Paalam earned a shot at a gold medal after serving a masterclass to dominate hometown bet Ryomei Tanaka in the men’s flyweight semifinal of the Tokyo Olympics Thursday at Kokugikan Arena.
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The 23-year-old ABAP-trained pugilist assured himself of a silver medal finish, equaling the feat of Anthony Villanueva in the same Tokyo venue in 1964 and Mansueto Velasco in 1996 Atlanta Games, the last time a Filipino boxer won a medal before these Tokyo Olympics.
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Paalam received a 30-27 favor from four judges and 29-28 from the fifth, remained as the last man standing among the four Filipino boxers who qualified for the quadrennial meet.
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Eumir Marcial lost in the men’s middleweight semifinal bout an hour after Paalam's victory and had to settle for the bronze. Marcial lost to Ukraine's Oleksandr Khyzhniak in a very thrilling fight.
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The European champion won by split decision, 29-28, 30-27, 28-29, 29-28, 28-29, in the men's middleweight semifinal for a 3-2 split decision as the Ukrainian chalked up his 62nd straight win.
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Khyzhniak is dubbed "The New Vasyl Lomachenko" in Ukraine defeated Moriwaki Yuito of Japan via split decision in the Round of 16 and then qualified for the semifinals with another split decision against Euri Cedeno Martinez of Dominican Republic in the quarter finals.
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His was a rockier road compared to the one taken by Marcial who has looked dominant so far, needing only 2:41 to oust Younes Nemouchi and 2:11 to eliminate Darchinyan.
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Khyzhniak and Marcial fought in the ring for the first time on February 18, 2019 in the Strandja International Boxing Tournament where the Ukrainian was victorious over the Filipino fighter who retired due to injury.
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Marcial added a bronze to the Philippines' medal haul that includes weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz's gold and boxer Nesthy Petecio's silver.
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Khyzhniak has not been defeated in more than five years, extending his winning streak to 62. He has now 110 wins as an amateur with only 13 losses with 16 KO wins.
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Khyzhniak enters the men's middleweight final on Saturday, August 7 against Hebert Conceicao Sousa of Brazil who won against Gleb Bakshi of Russia, one of the favorites in the division.
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The Ukrainian started heartlessly in the opening round, as Marcial was looking for the right timing to connect his tougher blows. Marcial suffered an awful cut, but the judges gave a 3-2 decision in favor of the Filipino in the first round.
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Both boxers gave flurry of exchanges in the second round, as Marcial bombed Khyzhniak with punches to the body and threw fists to the face of the Ukrainian and gashed a cut on his nose.
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Three of the judges again had Marcial ahead, as the fight went on to the final round with nonstop punching from both warriors. Marcial looked exhausted and hit the tummy of the Ukrainian. However, Khyzhniak got the nod of the the judges in the third round and won by split decision, 3-2.
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Kevin Durant, and Jrue Holiday ralled Team USA past Australia, 97-78, to advance to the Olympic men's basketball gold-medal game. France edged Olympic debutant Slovenia 90-89 Thursday to face the defending champions whom they defeated 83-76 in the preliminaries and ended the Americans' 25-game Olympic winning streak.
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The United States overcame an early 15-point deficit to recover against Australia. Kevin Durant led the offensive with 23 points and nine rebounds, while Devin Booker chipped in 20 points for Team USA, who will be seeking their fourth straight Olympic title Saturday.
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France narrowly escaped a serious threat from from two-time All-NBA first team member Luka Doncic and Slovenia as Nicolas Batum made a game-saving block in the final seconds to preserve the French's victory.
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Top Ten Olympic Medal Standings:
1. China 34 golds 24 silvers 16 bronzes
2. United States 29 golds 35 silvers 27 bronzes
3. Japan 22 golds 10 silvers 14 bronzes
4. Australia 17 golds 5 silvers 19 bronzes
5. ROC 16 golds 22 silvers 20 bronzes
6. Great Britain 16 golds 18 silvers 17 bronzes
7. Germany 9 golds 9 silvers 16 bronzes
8. France 7 golds 11 silvers 9 bronzes
9. Italy 7 golds 10 silvers 18 bronzes
10. Netherlands 7 golds 9 silvers 10 bronzes
49. Philippines 1 gold 1 silver 1 bronze
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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