IN THE quarterfinals of the Men’s Flyweight category of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Filipino brawler Carlo Paalam progressed via points victory against 2016 Rio Olympics Flyweight gold medalist Shakhobidin Zoirov earlier today at the Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo. Four judges scored the bout 20-19 in favor of Paalam while the last judge scored a tie, 19-19.

From the first second of the opening round, Paalam and Zoirov were looking to be aggressive as both fighters attempted to land punches early. Despite both fighters being very active, the judges deemed Paalam to be the more effective fighter as they all gave him the round win, 10-9.

The action did not stop in the early seconds of round two as both fighters continued to counter each other’s punches while also looking to land significant strikes. Due to their aggressiveness, Paalam and Zoirov collided heads, resulting in the referee calling a halt to the bout.

While checking if both fighters were able to continue, the referee prematurely ended the fight as Zoirov was deemed unable to resume due to a cut above his right eye which resulted in continuous bleeding. With the referee stopping the bout in round two, the result was to be decided via the judges’ scorecards. Ultimately, Paalam was declared victorious after four out of the five judges had him ahead on the scorecards before the stoppage, 20-19.

With this amazing victory against the reigning Olympic and world flyweight champion, Paalam is now assured at least a bronze medal in the Men’s Flyweight category. This now brings the Philippines’ overall Olympic medal tally up to four.

Paalam is set to fight in the semifinals against Japan’s Ryomei Tanaka on August 5 in the Kokugikan Arena, Tokyo at 1:30 PM Manila time.