Paalam lethal from fly to bantam

MANILA, Philippines — Olympic silver medalist Carlo Paalam is making sure he wouldn’t renege on his vow to go at nothing less than a gold in the 2024 Paris Games after falling short of it in Tokyo a year back.

But the proud son of Cagayan de Oro may have to do it in a heavier weight division.

Jumping from flyweight to bantamweight, Paalam is making heads turn again as he zoomed to the finals of the ASBC Elite Boxing Championships Thursday night in Amman, Jordan.

The 24-year-old Talakag, Bukidnon-born pug made easy work of Sanzhai Seidekmatov with a unanimous decision victory that assured him of at least a silver.

But Paalam is expected to shoot for nothing less than a mint against Makhmud Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan, who was as impressive in disposing of Muzafarov Shakhzod of Uzbekistan also via unanimous decision result, in the finale tomorrow night (Sunday).

Regardless, Paalam had already re-established himself as a force to reckon with after being outshone by Rogen Ladon in the flyweight class the past year.

Ladon, a former Olympian himself even before Paalam’s Tokyo silver feat, has reclaimed his place in the flyweight section where he represented the country in place of the latter in last May’s Hanoi Southeast Asian Games where he struck gold.

At the heavier category, Paalam looked impressive in his earlier triumphs over Muhanov Dovlet of Turkmenistan and Joosung Yoon of South Korea days before.

If he keeps it up, Paalam is on course to fulfilling his promise of a Paris Olympics gold.