By MARK REY MONTEJO
Two-time Olympian Carlos Paalam put up a superb performance and romped to a dominant win over Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Chiao-Chun, 5-0, to advance to Round of 32 of the 2025 World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England Thursday, Sept. 4.
Showing the devastating form that earned him a silver medal in the Tokyo Games, Paalam tagged his Taiwanese rival with variety of heavy punches on the way to a convincing win in the opener of the men’s 55kg class.
So classy was Paalam that he won in all scorecards — 30-26, 30-27, 30-25, 30-27, 30-26 — in the first-ever world championships that lured 540 male and female boxers from 66 national federations across the globe vying in 10 categories in both classes.
With his rousing victory, the 27-year-old pugilist set up a Final 32 clash with Junior Alcantara of Dominican Republic Sunday, Sept. 7.
Paalam won in all scorecards — 30-26, 30-27, 30-25, 30-27, 30-26 — in the first-ever world championships that lured 540 male and female boxers from 66 national federations across the globe vying in 10 categories in both classes.
With his rousing victory, the 27-year-old pugilist set up a Round of 32 clash with Junior Alcantara of the Dominican Republic Sunday, Sept. 7.
Meanwhile, Junmilardo Ogayre likewise advanced to the next round after beating Taipei’s Lai Chu-En, 5-0, in Round of 64 of the men’s 60kg division. He arranged a Last 32 face-off with Kazakh Biibars Zhexen.
The Philippines will take a break Friday, Sept. 5, before Ronald Chavez, Jr. resumes the PH campaign when he faces Irish Matthew McCole in Final 32 of men’s 70kg on Saturday, Sept. 6.
In women’s 60kg, Riza Pasuit takes on Ragad Alnaimi of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Round of 32 on the following day.
Other members of the team are Mark Ashley Fajardo (men’s 65kg) and Jay Bryan Baricuatro (50kg) go for separate wins in the Rounds 32 and 16, respectively.
A possible podium chance has slipped for Team PH after Ofelia Magno has been ruled out of the slugfest after her “genetic sex test results didn’t come out before the draw”, according to ABAP secretary-general Marcus Manalo.
“We had to get her test done here upon arrival (organizers arranged for it) because such a test is not available in the Philippines,” said Manalo. “I think World Boxing has to be strict with the eligibility criteria because of the controversies in the Paris Olympics that has resulted in appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).”
