Carlo Paalam knew the odds were heavily stacked against him, so he left everything he had in the ring — and his valiant effort was rewarded.
The Tokyo Olympic silver medalist eked out a split-decision victory over Makhmud Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan on Wednesday in the semifinals of the men’s 55kg boxing division at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 at Nishio Gymnasium in Nishio City.
The 28-year-old Paalam was hoping to improve on the bronze medal he won at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
But Sabyrkhan, the 2023 and 2025 World Championship gold medalist and 2024 Asian champion, proved to be a worthy foe.
Paalam claimed the opening round via a 4-1 split decision, but the Kazakh came out strong in the second, earning three judges’ scorecards to set up a dramatic finish.
Paalam, however, refused to let the fight slip away. He took the final round on a 3-2 split to secure his place in the gold-medal bout.
Paalam is the lone fighter from the Philippines’ six-person boxing team still in contention, with the squad seeking to surpass its lone silver-medal output from the Hangzhou Asian Games.
