Philippines, 16 Sep 2025
  Home >> News

 


BOXERS

CURRENT CHAMPIONS 

FORMER CHAMPIONS   

RATINGS                       

NEWS           

FORUM        

FIGHT GALLERIES        

RING CARD GIRLS        


 
 
News  


Travails of boxing


PhilBoxing.com



Paalam (L) loses to Senior (R) in Olympics quarterfinals.

Heartbreaks are a part of Olympic history. With every triumph, there is defeat. Since the Philippines began its Olympic odyssey 100 years ago, there have been several close calls where athletes came a whiff away from bagging a medal. In boxing, the list is painful. Lightweight Jose Padilla (1936), welterweight Simplicio de Castro (1936), lightweight Rodolfo Arpon (1964), bantamweight Reynaldo Fortaleza (1976), lightweight Leopoldo Cantancio (1984), bantamweight Roberto Jalnaiz (1992), lightweight Ronald Chavez (1992) and flyweight Elias Recaido (1996) made it to the quarters and were a win away from barging into the semis but failed to advance. In the Paris Games, add featherweight Carlo Paalam to the cast.

Paalam, 26, was a win short of claiming a guaranteed bronze and lost a close 3-2 split decision to Australia’s Charlie Senior in the quarters. Paalam had a narrow lead at the end of the first round then Senior leveled it to turn the third frame into a make-or-break decider. Paalam, who was masterful in conquering Ireland’s Jude Gallagher in the Round of 16, strayed away from his fight plan of boxing skillfully and instead, tried to slug his way to a win. Senior slipped and slid to make Paalam miss then landed shots as the Tokyo Olympic flyweight silver medalist teetered off balance.

Paalam was the more aggressive fighter throughout but Senior, whose tactic of raising his right arm repeatedly to influence judges into scoring his connections was a distraction, controlled the space in the ring to make a strong case for the win. It could’ve gone either way but it appeared three of the five judges were swayed by Senior’s control from a distance. Paalam said his dream to strike Olympic gold isn’t over and the LA Games is only four years away when he’ll be 30.

Lightheavyweight Eumir Marcial’s exit was a disappointment. His Paris campaign was one and done. Marcial lost a unanimous decision to Uzbek Turabek Khabibullaev, a former world youth champion making his Olympic debut at 20. There were several possible reasons why Marcial didn’t perform as expected. First, he fought out of his natural weight class. Marcial claimed a bronze at 75kg in Tokyo but when the division was scrapped for Paris, he had to move up to 80kg. Second, his training wasn’t consistently with his Paris coaches. Marcial trained in Las Vegas with a different coaching team. Third, he lacked foot movement which was necessary to create angles against a taller and rangier opponent. ABAP chairman Ricky Vargas confirmed Marcial suffered a rib injury while sparring with a Cuban in camp in Germany two weeks before and while it wasn’t a fracture, his training regimen was hampered. Fourth, his instincts as a pro took away from what he had to do to win an Olympic-style fight. Fifth, he went for the homerun from the onset, looking for one big shot to end it. Sixth, he battled Turabek straight up, a recipe for disaster against a fighter whose advantage is distance. And seventh, he failed to cut the ring off from the quick-stepping Uzbek. If the fight were scheduled for four rounds instead of three, Marcial could’ve turned it around like he did in his second pro bout against Isiah Hart when he survived three trips to the canvas to score a stoppage at 2:13 of the final frame.

Marcial, 28, will now focus on his pro career. He’ll find his natural weight and fight the way he wants to. Marcial’s power is overwhelming and that’s what he’ll bring to the table in resuming his pro journey where his record is 5-0, with three KOs.


Click here to view a list of other articles written by Joaquin Henson.


Recent PhilBoxing.com In-House articles:

  • Kingsley “The Black Lion” Ibeh To headline historic “Legacy Nights” Inaugural Pro Boxing event in El Salvador
    , Tue, 16 Sep 2025
  • Smarts over power
    By Joaquin Henson, , Tue, 16 Sep 2025
  • HALL OF FAME FLIES FLAGS AT HALF-STAFF FOR TWO-DIVISION CHAMPION RICKY HATTON
    , Tue, 16 Sep 2025
  • Kazakhstan tops the medal table at the inaugural World Boxing Championships 2025 thanks to victory in the final bout of the competition
    , Tue, 16 Sep 2025
  • THRILLA IN MANILA GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY 13: JOE FRAZIER’S HUMBLE BEGINNINGS AS AN AMATEUR FIGHTER
    By Maloney L. Samaco, , Mon, 15 Sep 2025
  • A New King, A New Challenger: Turki Alalshikh Proposes Crawford-Benavidez While Canelo Alvarez Faces Defeat with Humility
    By Dong Secuya, , Mon, 15 Sep 2025
  • Highly Questionable Title Eliminator
    By Teodoro Medina Reynoso, , Mon, 15 Sep 2025
  • Yoseline Perez Earns Silver Medal at Inaugural World Boxing Championships
    , Mon, 15 Sep 2025
  • 21-year-old Filipino wins at Germany rapid chess tournament
    By Marlon Bernardino, , Mon, 15 Sep 2025
  • Nagoya Nightmare: Naoya Inoue Notches One-Sided Decision over Murodjon Akhmadaliev
    , Mon, 15 Sep 2025
  • Inoue’s Philippine Connection: Which Pinoy Super Bantamweight Could Challenge “The Monster?”
    By Carlos Costa, , Mon, 15 Sep 2025
  • Yoseline Perez Advances to the Finals at the World Boxing Championships Perez Set to Face Chinese Taipei’s Hsiao-Wen Huang for 54-Kilogram World Title
    , Mon, 15 Sep 2025
  • Canelo Gets Outboxed, Loses Undisputed Title to Crawford
    By Carlos Costa, , Sun, 14 Sep 2025
  • A Masterpiece of Boxing: Terence Crawford Dethrones Canelo Alvarez in Historic Showdown
    By Dong Secuya, , Sun, 14 Sep 2025
  • LEWIS CROCKER IS CROWNED THE NEW IBF WORLD WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION
    , Sun, 14 Sep 2025
  • Battle of Undefeated: Callum Walsh Vanquishes Fernando Vargas Jr.
    By Dong Secuya, , Sun, 14 Sep 2025
  • Undercard Inferno: Mbilli and Martinez Deliver a Super Middleweight War Ending in a Thrilling Draw
    By Dong Secuya, , Sun, 14 Sep 2025
  • Crawford to defy odds?
    By Joaquin Henson, , Sun, 14 Sep 2025
  • Clash of Titans: The Final Predictions for Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford
    By Dong Secuya, , Sun, 14 Sep 2025
  • Weigh-In Results: Naoya Inoue vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev
    , Sun, 14 Sep 2025
  • Inoue and Akhmadaliev Make Weight for Sunday's Battle, Watch it LIVE on Facebook!
    By Carlos Costa, , Sun, 14 Sep 2025
  • IIEE North Cotabato and Metro Central are the Golden Champion on 3x3 Basketball and 3x3 Chess
    By Marlon Bernardino, , Sun, 14 Sep 2025
  • Sydney Sy Tancontian is Female Awardee of Sports Hero of the Year
    By Lito delos Reyes, , Sat, 13 Sep 2025
  • Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford: Size Matters
    By Chris Carlson, , Sat, 13 Sep 2025
  • BOOTS TALKS SPARRING WITH CANELO IN ‘DAY IN THE LIFE’
    , Sat, 13 Sep 2025




  •  



     
    PhilBoxing.com has been created to support every aspiring
    Filipino boxer and the Philippine boxing scene in general.
    Please send comments to feedback@philboxing.com


    PRIVATE POLICY | LEGAL DISCLAIMER
    developed and maintained by dong secuya
    © 2025 philboxing.com.