By MARK REY MONTEJO
Tokyo Games silver medalist Carlo Paalam inched closer to earning a berth to the Paris Games but not after surviving a tough Armenian rival in the 2nd World Boxing Qualification for Olympics on Friday, May 30, in Bangkok, Thailand.
After a masterful win over Turkmenistan’s Shukur Ovezov the other day, Paalam had to go through the proverbial eye of the needle before eking out a thrilling split decision over Armenia’s Artur Bazeyan to advance to the quarters of the men’s 57kg class.
So tight and furious the contest was that three judges have the same scorecards of 28-28, but all favored Paalam after the countback – thanks to the Filipino’s solid counterpunches.
One judge, however, declared Paalam the winner, 29-27, but the other saw it otherwise, scoring it 29-27 for the Armenian.
For Paalam to secure a slot to the Paris Olympics, he needs two more wins – one against winner between Lee Cheng-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Dominican Republic’s Jose De Lo Santos.
“Ibibigay ko ang buong best ko, para sa Pilipinas kong mahal,” said Paalam, who was deducted a point in the last round that proved crucial.
“I thought Carlo followed good tactics to win that bout,” said Don Abnett, the Olympic coach of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines. “He boxed good today, landing good backhand straight punches and lead hand hooks. His opponent used clever tactics to make it appear to the referee that Carlo was holding and a point was deducted in the last round.”
ABAP secretary-general Marcus Manalo explained how Paalam arrived at a favorable 4-1 verdict even though three judges turned in identical scores.
“Carlo won the first round 3-2, and the second round 5-0,” said Manalo. “Even if he loses the third round 0-5, he would still win the bout 3-2. However, he got a point deduction in the last round for holding and he lost that last round 2-3.
“So, after three rounds, one judge gave it to Carlo, the other one to the Armenian, and it was tied 28-all (because of the deduction) with 3 judges.
“When tied at the end of three rounds, the judges will need to vote on who they think won the bout overall. And as expected, those three went for Carlo. So the final score was 4-1 for him. We did not agree with the point deduction though, we thought it was the Armenian who was putting his head down and holding. Nonetheless, Carlo did more than enough to win and to get the nod from the four judges.”
Tie-break is the official term covering the situation, Manalo said. “Event regulation says: If the total scores awarded by each judge, including any deduction, are equal at the end of the bout, the judge(s) with equal scores is/are requested to nominate which boxer is the winner of the bout in their opinion.”
The tie-break is required in the following cases: One judge has even scores, and the total scores of the other four (4) judges are evenly split; or two judges have even scores and the other three judges do not score unanimously; or three or more judges have even scores.
The third condition applied in Paalam’s bout.
With three remaining quotas in his weight class, Paalam must enter the finals to assure his entry.
The losing semifinalists will then box-off with the winner claiming the third and last berth to the global sporting spectacle.
The other PH bet still in the radar is Hergie Bacyadan who competes in women’s 75kg class. She will battle Hungarian Veronika Nakota in the last 16 Saturday, June 1.
The 29-year-old pugilist from Baguio needs to enter the semis to secure a spot in the Paris Games.
