WHILE all five Pinoy Olympic-bound boxers have what it takes to bring home the bacon, there’s something special about featherweight Carlo Paalam, according to Australian mentor Don Abnett.
“He (Paalam) is a super talent; the complete package. Carlo took a little time to adjust to the extra weight but now he is managing that well. He is getting better and better and is more experienced,” Abnett said in an interview last Tuesday at the PSA forum.
After being forced to pull out of the First World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Busto Arsizio, Italy last March due to a shoulder injury, Paalam was practically good as new when he competed in Bangkok, Thailand, showcasing the brilliant skills that netted him a silver medal in the flyweight division in his Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021.
Abnett said the pride of Talakag, Bukidnon, a former scavenger in Cagayan de Oro City, had the toughest draw in the second world Olympic qualifiers in Bangkok, needing five matches to punch a ticket to the Paris Summer Games next month.
“I thought the Indian boy (whom Paalam faced in the semifinals) would be very, very tricky,” said the Australian tactician, referring to 2016 world youth champion Sachin Siwach.
“But he (Siwach) had no answer for Carlo,” he pointed out, recalling the impressive unanimous decision win Paalam scored against his tall and lean Indian opponent through his superb ring skills.
Abnett said Paalam was prepared to go the extra mile had he lost in the semis and would have faced the other losing semifinalist, Uzbekiztan’s Munarbek Seiitbek Uulu, who lost 1-4 to the Pinoy boxer in the Hangzhou Asian Games last November, for the third and last Olympic slot in the division.
Paalam’s appearance in the two qualifiers gave him and his coaching staff a closer look at the boxer’s potential rivals in Paris, according to the Aussie mentor.
Credited for the country’s outstanding boxing success in the Tokyo Olympics, Abnett said the time spent by Eumir Felix Marcial, who is now back training in Las Vegas, with his national amateur coaches in Bangkok while his teammates were vying in the Olympic qualifiers was worthwhile.
