Paalam Eyes Gold

Marcial takes bronze

- Tito S. Talao

TOKYO — Flyweight Carlo Paalam combined guile and blinding speed to stay in the hunt for the Philippines’ second gold medal in the XXXII Olympiad Thursday even as middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial saw a critical second-round edge vanish against a tireless wrecking machine from Ukraine that mirrored Ivan Drago, losing by split decision 3-2.

Facing the tournament top seed, a long-time undefeated world champion named Oleksandr Khyzhniak, Marcial went full throttle from the opening round of their semifinal bout at the Kokugikan Arena, time and again rocking his opponent with thunderous blows to the head.

But Khyzhniak, both gloves covering his face, took all that Marcial could dish off, plodding on and boring in even after the Filipino took the first round 5-0 and the second barely 2-1, with two scores tied 19-all.

The third round was a war, with Khyzhniak displaying excellent stamina – and a resolve born out of international experience – against the fast-fading Marcial, who was visibly spent from his all-out first-round assault and after trading punches with the Ukrainian past the halfway mark of the third.

Khyzhniak moved on to the gold medal bout of the 69-75 kg division against Brazil’s Hebert Sousa, who pounded out a 4-1 split decision over Russia’s Gleb Bakshi in the other semifinal, a fight PH boxing’s Australian training director Don Abnett, who masterminded boxing’s Olympic resurgence after 25 years, had intently eyed from a TV monitor inside the Mixed Zone while Marcial was being interviewed.

“Me kulang talaga sa physical ko, naubusan ako ng hangin (Something was lacking in my physical condition. I really lost steam),” said Marcial, who nonetheless took the bronze medal, the country’s first Olympic hardware of that color since light flyweight Roel Velasco in 1992 in Barcelona.