KOKUGIKAN ARENA, TOKYO - The Philippines' hunt for its first Olympic gold medal in the sport boxing will have to continue for three more years as Carlo Paalam lost in the men's flyweight gold medal match against Galal Yafai of Great Britain.
It was a split decision with four judges scoring it 29-28 for the Brit while one had it 29-28 for Paalam.
The first round played out with Yafai as the aggressor. Paalam did his best to keep him away but he suffered a knockdown early giving the boxer from Great Britain a huge advantage in the match. It was a clear left straight that sent Paalam down but he was able to bounce back and get going later in the round.
All the judges scored the first for Yafai, 10-9.
Knowing that he was behind, Paalam met Yafai in the middle of the ring at the start of the second as he finally landed his combinations.
The Filipino fighter landed better punches in the second round as he scored with crisp left hooks.
However, four of the judges still gave the second to Yafai, putting the pressure on Paalam to land something big in the third round.
The boxer from Great Britain played it safe in the final round as he was content to stay away from any danger, moving around the ring and throwing counters. Paalam moved forward relentlessly but he simply could not land the big punch that would hurt Yafai. He was able to land a solid right hand in the final 10 seconds but it was not enough to hurt Yafai.
All five judges scored the third for Paalam.
Paalam battled from the Round of 32 where he started with a 4-1 victory over Brendan Irvine of Ireland. He continued his strong performance with another, 4-1, win against Mohamed Flissi of Algeria. Then, Paalam scored arguably the biggest win of his boxing career when he defeated the reigning Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov, 4-0, to book a ticket into the semifinals.
The Filipino speedster stamped his ticket into the gold-medal match with another impressive showing when he blanked Tanaka Ryomei, 5-0, in the semifinals.
As an unranked fighter like Paalam, Yafai also had to battle from the Round of 32. He defeated Koryun Soghomonyan of Armenia, Patrick Chinyemba of Zambia, Yosbany Veitia of Cuba, and Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan to reach the final.