Carlo Paalam (born July 16, 1998) is a Filipino amateur boxer. He made his

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

debut and won silver medal in the flyweight division at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo, Japan. He is also a gold medalist in 30th SEA Games light flyweight division.

Early life

Paalam was born on July 16, 1998, in

Talakag Talakag, officially the Municipality of Talakag ( Bukid and Higaonon: Banuwa ta Talakag; ceb, Lungsod sa Talakag; tl, Bayan ng Talakag), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bukidnon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has ...

, Bukidnon. He spent some time of his childhood in Balingoan,

Misamis Oriental Misamis Oriental ( ceb, Sidlakang Misamis; tl, Silangang Misamis), officially the Province of Misamis Oriental, is a province located in the region of Northern Mindanao in the Philippines. Its capital, largest city and provincial center is th ...

. His mother left his father after a failed marriage when Carlo was just six years old. After the estrangement, Carlo Paalam, his father and siblings left Balingoan for

Cagayan de Oro Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan ( ilo, Probinsia ti Cagayan; ibg, Provinsiya na Cagayan; itv, Provinsiya ya Cagayan; fil, Lalawigan ng Cagayan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Cagayan Valley region, covering ...

for better opportunities. Paalam then worked as a scavenger at a landfill in the city. His neighbor encouraged him to join a local tournament known as "Boxing at the Park" after seeing him in a backyard boxing match. He won his first boxing match at age 7 and used his winnings to buy rice for his family.

Career

He was scouted by local officials by Zedrick Ramos in 2009 after figuring in the Boxing at the Park tournament and was placed under Cagayan de Oro's boxing training program. Paalam then joined the Philippine national team in 2013 and started competing for international level. He took home bronze medals both at the AIBA Youth Asian and World Championships in 2016, and at the Asian Games in 2018. He took part in the

2017 Southeast Asian Games Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanes ...

in Malaysia, but did not medal. He bagged gold medals in the ASTANA/President's Cup in Kazakhstan in 2017, 10th AIBA International Boxing Tournament, and 1st Thailand International Boxing Tournament in 2018. In 2019, he took home his first Southeast Asian Games gold medal at the

2019 Southeast Asian Games The 2019 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 30th Southeast Asian Games, or the 30th SEA Games, and commonly known as Philippines 2019, was the 30th edition of the Southeast Asian Games, a biennial regional multi-sport event which ...

which was hosted at home in the Philippines. He made his debut at the

in Tokyo in July 2021 after qualifying through the IOC-BTF standings “by virtue of their highest standings in their respective weight categories (in the Olympic qualifying rankings)”, after the remaining qualifying tournaments at that time were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He pulled a victory by a split decision against Irish flyweight boxer Brendan Irvine and advanced to the Round 16 Quarterfinals. He then won by a Unanimous Decision against World Championship Silver and bronze medalist Mohamed Flissi of

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. He then pulled an upset victory against reigning Olympic gold medalist Shakhobidin Zoirov of

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

by a 4–1 split decision as the fight was halted due to both fighters having cuts and injuries while fighting. Paalam advances to the semifinals against Ryomei Tanaka of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Paalam would defeat Tanaka by a unanimous decision (5–0) to advance to the gold medal match against British boxer

Galal Yafai Galal Yafai ( ar, جلال يافعي; born 11 December 1992) is a British professional boxer who as an amateur won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In his pro debut he won the vacant WBC International flyweight title. Personal life Yafai was ...

. Paalam fought Yafai in the finals of the men's flyweight event but lost to a 4–1 split decision. He became the fourth medalist to bring home an olympic medal for the Philippines at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as he brings home a silver medal in the men's flyweight boxing event.

In popular media

Paalam's life leading to his silver medal win in the 2020 Summer Olympics was dramatized in an episode of

Maalaala Mo Kaya ''Maalaala Mo Kaya'' (; formerly written as ''Maala-ala Mo Kaya...''; abbreviated as ''MMK''), also known as ''Memories'', is a Philippines, Philippine television drama anthology show broadcast by Kapamilya Channel under ABS-CBN Entertainment. ...

, a drama anthology series, aired on January 8, 2022. He was portrayed by

CJ Navato Christianne Jose B. Navato (born September 13, 1996) is a Filipino actor, dancer and singer under ABS-CBN's Star Magic. He made his first television appearance at the age of seven ever since joining ABS-CBN's talent search '' Star Circle Quest: ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paalam, Carlo 1998 births Living people Filipino male boxers Filipino sportspeople People from Bukidnon People from Misamis Oriental Asian Games bronze medalists for the Philippines Boxers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in boxing Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Olympic boxers of the Philippines Boxers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Boxers from Misamis Oriental Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for the Philippines Southeast Asian Games competitors for the Philippines Sportspeople from Bukidnon Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the Philippines Olympic medalists in boxing