Out of the Philippines’ six-strong boxing team, only two-time Olympian Carlo Paalam is left standing and will bring home a medal from the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. He’s assured of a bronze but a victory over Kazakhstan’s Makhmud Sabyrkhan in the 55kg semifinals today will take him to Friday’s final against the winner of the other semifinal match between Japan’s Rui Yamaguchi and Mongolia’s Bilguunsaikhan Kharkhuu.
Sabyrkhan, 25, is looking to avenge his defeat to Paalam, 28, in the gold medal bout at the Asian Boxing Confederation Championships in Amman four years ago. Paalam scored a 4-1 decision over the top-seed. The Kazakh hopes to turn the tables on Paalam.
In Nagoya, Sabyrkhan breezed through his Round of 16 fight, blanking Iran’s Mehdi Kazemi, 5-0 then pulled off a 3-1-1 decision over South Korea’s Jaeyong Shin in the quarterfinals. The road to the semis was more difficult for Paalam who pounded out a 3-0-2 verdict over India’s Jadumani Singh Mandengbam in the Round of 16 and outpointed China’s Zhang Jiamao, 3-2, in the quarterfinals. The win over Zhang was close as Paalam took the first round on three of the five judges scorecards and the second on four but lost the third on a sweep. South Korean judge Cho Jung Sook had it a 3-0 shutout for Zhang and Hungarian judge Ivan Jonas saw it 29-28, also for the Chinese. But the three other judges, Uzbek Maruf Urdushev, Egyptian Osama Hanafy and Lithuanian Gintaras Sniuksta, scored it 29-28 for Paalam.
Both fighters saw action in the 57kg class at the 2024 Olympics. Sabyrkhan lost a 4-1 decision to Spain’s Jose Quiles in his first fight while Paalam defeated Ireland’s Jude Gallagher, 5-0 before bowing out to Australia’s Charlie Senior, 3-2. In the previous Olympics, Paalam claimed the 52kg silver.
Sabyrkhan struck gold at the World Championships in Liverpool last year and was named Best Boxer by World Boxing, the IOC-accredited international boxing federation. He also won gold at the 2023 World and 2024 Asian Championships. Sabyrkhan has compiled an amateur record of 86-14, with 15 KOs and lists among his victims, Filipinos Cris Russu Laurente, John Vincent Pangga, Jericho Acaylar and Aaron Jude Bado.
Paalam is a two-time SEA Games gold medalist and at the 2018 Asian Games, collected a bronze, losing a painful 3-2 decision to India’s Amit Panghal in the 49kg semifinals. At the 2022 Asiad, he was wiped out by Uzbekistan’s Abdulmalik Khalokov on a 5-0 outcome in the 57kg quarterfinals. He’s seeking his first silver or gold in a third Asian Games campaign. Paalam’s amateur record is 63-18 with one KO.