By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
There will still be no goodbyes for Carlo Paalam as the Filipino boxer put on a striking clinic against hometown bet Ryomei Tanaka of Japan in the men’s flyweight semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics via a 5-0 unanimous decision win.
Paalam’s outstanding consistency for three straight rounds earned him an outright seat to the grand finals of the flyweight division and grabbed the chance to deliver the first-ever Olympic boxing gold medal to the Philippines.
It was all Paalam during his bout against Tanaka as the Filipino stepped on the gas pedal from the get-go.
Despite the pressure put on by the Japanese slugger, Paalam timed his offensive artillery with fluid head movements that kept Tanaka guessing.
Apart from Paalam’s clean hits with his snappy jabs and smooth 1-2 combinations, his counter-punching was also a huge problem for the Japanese.
The well-timed counter-punching of Paalam disrupted Tanaka’s attempts to surge and move forward, breaking the Japanese fighter’s momentum.
Tanaka tried to claw back in the third round and looked for that one punch that can put Paalam down in the canvass but the Filipino performed again at a high level to take all three rounds.
Paalam is set to face Great Britain’s Galal Yafai for the gold medal match on Saturday, August 7.
