SPORTS SHORTS 189: CARLO PAALAM BATTLES FOR THE GOLD MEDAL VERSUS GALAL YAFAI OF GREAT BRITAIN
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 07 Aug 2021
Filipino flyweight finalist Carlo Paalam aims for the Philippines' second gold medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with the final bout scheduled today, Saturday, at 1:00 p.m. Philippine time.
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So far this is the Philippines' best single Olympic achievement with the country's historic first gold medal won by Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting, and a silver medal in boxing by Nesthy Petecio and a bronze medal won by Eumir Marcial also in boxing. Paalam is guaranteed to add a silver medal but is still in contention for the gold.
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Blocking his golden moment is British boxer Galal Yafai, who is also trying to make a date with history as he aims to become Great Britain's first Olympic flyweight gold medalist in 65 years.
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Yafai of Team Great Britain is aiming to be his country's first flyweight Olympic gold medalist since 1956 when countryman Terence Spinks won it in Melbourne.
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"I can't believe it. It's ridiculous. It's a dream," Yafai was quoted by BBC Sport after escaping with a very close 3-2 split decision semifinal win over Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan.
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Yafai comes from a boxing family. His two elder brothers Kal and Gamal are also boxers and greatly influenced his decision to take up the sport of boxing.
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Khalid "Kal", 32, fought for Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics before turning professional and later won the WBA super-flyweight belt from 2016 to 2020.
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Gamal, 29, won a bronze medal for Britain at the 2010 European Championships and has an impressive 18-2 record as a professional for seven years.
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The southpaw Galal started his amateur career in the light-flyweight class, representing Great Britain in 2016 Rio Games where he made it to the Round of 16.
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He won a light-flyweight bronze medal at the 2017 European Championships and a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games then moved up to the flyweight class in 2019.
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Yafai's path to the Tokyo 2020 gold medal bout started with a referee stopped contest (RSC) win over Koryun Soghomonyan of Armenia in the Round of 32.
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Then he eked out a 3-2 split decision win over Patrick Chinyenba of Zambia in the Round of 16, an enormous 4-1 split decision win over no. 3 seed Yosbany Veitia of Cuba in the quarterfinals. Lately and that very narrow 3-2 decision over Kazakh Bibossinov.
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In his preview of Team Great Britain's 11-fighter Olympic boxing team, ESPN senior boxing writer Nick Parkinson boldly predicted that "[Yafai's] experience suggests he could make the podium in Tokyo."
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Paalam, in contrast, lost only on one judge's scorecard in his four Olympic bouts so far, and it happened in his first bout, with a 4-1 Round of 32 win over Ireland's Brendan Irvine.
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His biggest win so far in the Olympics was a 4-0 decision over heavily favored top seed and defending Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan whose fight with Paalam resorted to the reading of the scorecards during the second round after Zoirov suffered a deep bloody cut.
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Paalam was declared winner by split decision as he was ahead on four judges' scorecards, 20-18, while the fifth judge saw it a 19-19 draw.
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Paalam also scored 5-0 drubbing against Mohamed Flissi of Algeria and another 5-0 whipping of Ryomei Tanaka of Japan in the Round of 16 and semifinals, respectively. He was sharp and very tactical as yet in all fights.
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This is Paalam's first Olympic stint unlike Yafai who is an Olympic veteran in Rio. He was taken into the national pool at a very tender age of 15 after being discovered in Cagayan de Oro fighting in the boxing at the park.
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He won the bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta then won the gold medal at the 2019 Manila Southeast Asian Games.
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Paalam booked his berth to Tokyo from the IOC Boxing Task Force Rankings after the Covid-19 pandemic cancelled the remaining Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. He was chosen by his higher ranking in the Asia-Oceania region.
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Yafai was able to secure his slot through the European Olympic Qualification Tournament held in March in London just before the world shut down.
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Both boxers will attempt to bring the gold medal for their respective countries on Saturday. Great Britain has won four boxing medals so far, but they have not harvested any gold yet. Same as the Philippine boxing team which only has a silver and a bronze medal.
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Galal Yafai was born on December 11, 1992 and won a silver medal at the 2017 European Championships and gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and bronze medal while fighting in the flyweight division at the 2019 European Games.
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At the 2016 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Samsun, Turkey, Yafai defeated Samuel Carmona Heredia of Spain by unanimous decision in his semifinal bout to secure a slot in the 2016 Olympic.
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In Rio de Janeiro he won the round of 32 fight defeating Simplice Fotsala of Cameroon. He lost the round of 16 match to Joahnys Argilagos of Cuba.
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In May 2019, Yafai competed at the 2019 European Games in Minsk, Belarus. He also fought at the 2019 World Championships in Yekaterinburg, Russia, where he lost by unanimous decision to Billal Bennama of France in the quarter-finals.
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He has qualified to represent Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where he has advanced to the gold medal match in the flyweight division.
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His brother Khalid "Kal" Yafai held the WBA super-flyweight title from 2016 to 2020. On February 29, 2020, Yafai faced former pound-for-pound king Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, who was ranked #2 by the WBA, and Khalid lost by a ninth round TKO and he was dethroned of his WBA super-flyweight title
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Galal Yafai
Age 28
Amateur record : 32 wins 11 losses
World Series of Boxing record: 7 wins 3 losses 1 KO win
Height 5′ 7" (171 cm)
Residence Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Birth place Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Stance southpaw
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Carlo Paalam
Age 23
Amateur record: 37 wins 11 losses 1 KO win
Height 5′ 4″ (162 cm)
Birth place Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines (according to BoxRec), Bukidnon (according to Wikipedia)
Residence Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines
Stance orthodox
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