For 89 years, the Philippines had been competing in Olympic boxing. And during that time 71 of the country’s bravest and boldest pugilists have tried to win gold and capture that Olympic glory.
But no one has yet to reach the pinnacle.
There were three boxers who came so close to winning that gold.
There was Anthony Villanueva back in 1964 who was one win away from being the featherweight champion of the first Tokyo Games. However, the Soviet Union’s Stanislav Stepashkin picked up a split decision win to deny the Filipinos of gold.
Thirty-two years later cam Onyok Velasco — a 5-foot-2 native of Bago, Negros Occidental who captured the imaginations of every Filipino in Atlanta.
Fate though would be cruel to Velasco as he suffered a controversial 6-19 defeat at the hands of Bulgaria’s Daniel Petrov in the light flyweight final.
Then last Tuesday, women’s flyweight Nesthy Petecio could not overcome Japanese bet, Sena Irie, in the final to settle for the country’s third silver in the cruel sport.
In the penultimate day of the second Tokyo Games, a 23-year-old flyweight out of Cagayan de Oro will try to accomplish what his predecessors couldn’t as he meets Great Britain’s Galal Yafai in the final.
Paalam though knows he will be a huge underdog entering the bout at the fabled Ryōgoku Kokugikan.
“Hinihiling ko lang po sa kapwa ko Pilipino na ipagdasal ako.
“Gagawin ko ang best ko, kasi hindi ko naman hawak ‘yung desisyon, tsaka ‘yung kalaban ko kasi magaling din. Tiwala lang sa sarili. Sana ibigay na sa atin ng Panginoon,” he said.
The hardworking media covering the Games in Tokyo have reported that head coach Don Arnett and coach Ronald Chavez have already reviewed Yafai’s tapes and simulated his tendencies in two training sessions on Friday.
Jeaneth Aro, on the other hand, said that Paalam is in good shape while Marcus Manalo has made sure that his ward is mentally prepared as well.
How important will those be heading into the bout?
Well, Yafai, the dog in the bout, is no slouch as he is a silver medalist in the 2017 European Championships and the gold medalist in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. For his part, Paalam is a Southeast Asian Games champion.
But if there’s one man who can finally breakthrough for the country in this game, it has got to be Paalam who slew Ireland’s Brendan Irvine, Algeria’s Mohamed Flissi, Rio champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan, and hometown bet Ryomie Tanaka to get to this point.
Yes, if there’s a boxer that can be the one, it has got to be Paalam.
