One win down, one more for a sure Olympic medal.
Carlo Paalam moved a victory away from a return trip to the podium when he defeated Jude Gallagher of Ireland in the Round of 16 of the men’s featherweight (57-kg) division of boxing on Wednesday at the Arena Paris Nord in Villepinte, France.
The 22-year-old Gallagher was the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medalist. He also earned a bronze in the 2018 Youth World Championships as a light flyweight.
Gallagher came out swinging against Paalam, but the 26-year-old Filipino kept his poise and used his veteran savvy to fend off the Irishman’s attacks while scoring with pinpoint hits.
A silver medalist in the men’s flyweight (52-kg) division in the Tokyo Olympics, Paalam will now advance to the quarterfinals where he will face Charlie Senior of Australia, who prevailed over Vasile Usturoi of Belgium in the Round of 16.
It was a massive upset by the 22-year-old Senior over the 27-year-old Usturoi, who bagged the gold in the 2022 European Championships and became the first Belgian in 71 years to become European champion.
A victory by Paalam in the quarterfinals on August 3 will guarantee him a bronze medal.
Paalam, at 5-foot-4 with a reach of 163 cm, will be hard-pressed to overcome Senior’s physical advantages.
The Australian stands 5-foot-10 with a reach of 178 cm. Senior also showed in his triumph over Usturoi that he came into the Olympics armed with confidence.
The boxer from Perth told Olympic.com after his Round of 16 victory, “I perform under pressure and that’s why I’m here. I didn’t come here looking for any easy fights. I fought the best and mixed it with the best so therefore I am up there with the best.”
On paper, Paalam should be able to thwart Senior given the wide gulf in credentials between the two.
Before moving up in weight, Paalam was the No. 2 bantamweight in the world rankings of the International Boxing Association, the world governing body of amateur boxing. Senior is ranked 72nd in the featherweight division.
The two have both fought and lost via unanimous decision to top seed and reigning world champion Abdumalik Khalokov of Uzbekistan.
The difference between Paalam and Senior, though, ends there.
The experienced Paalam is an Olympic runner-up and a former Asian Championships gold medalist, winning the bantamweight title in 2022.
At 20 years old, he won a bronze in the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta. He is a two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist.
Senior, on the other hand, has not won any significant international titles. His most notable achievement outside of Australia is when he made the Round of 16 of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games – the same event where Gallagher won the gold for Ireland.
Before beating the world No. 17 Usturoi, the most fancied opponent Senior had ever faced had been Italy’s Michele Baldassi, the 2022 European Championships bronze medalist who is 34th in the IBA world rankings.
Senior lost twice on points to Baldassi in an international meet in Assisi, Italy, on October 23, 2023.
Paalam has proven he has already grown into the featherweight division. He prevailed by split decision over IBA world No. 7 and 2022 European Championships silver medalist Artur Bazeyan of Armenia in the World Olympic Qualifier Preliminaries held in Bangkok last May.
Paalam also holds victories over IBA world No. 6 Miguel Fernando Vega Barreras of Mexico and world No. 17 Munarek Seitbek Uulu of Kyrgyzstan, who is tabbed by Sports Illustrated as a potential bronze medal winner in Paris.
Upsets, though, have become quite common in this edition of the Olympics, where several world No. 1 fighters have already exited. Senior is a prime example of that.
Based on his first bout, the Australian is a busy fighter who tries to overwhelm his opponent and impress the judges with his volume punching. But he also mostly keeps his hands down to get his opponent to engage.
Paalam would once again need to maintain his composure and pick his spots while not allowing Senior to build an early lead. Senior is there to be hit, and Paalam has the counterpunching accuracy to instill fear in the Australian’s head that going forward is a bad idea.
This is a winnable fight that could place Paalam in the semifinals with a chance to exact vengeance on Khalokov and possibly earn another spot in the finals.
But first, there is Senior, who requires Paalam’s 100-percent focus and attention.
Paalam’s ring generalship and his ability to negate Senior’s considerable height and length advantage will be critical to the Filipino’s chances for victory.
