Filipino boxers brace for tough Olympic debut

Seeding boxers is done to ensure that the favorites are not matched up early in the tournament to enhance the flow of the competitions

Boxer Carlo Paalam will not just take on the challenge of fighting in a different weight class in the Paris Olympics but also against a field filled with top caliber cast.photograph courtesy of Federación Española de Boxeo/FB

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — Four members of the five-man Philippine boxing team might find themselves slamming against a brick wall when they make their respective debuts in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Excluding Eumir Marcial--seeded No. 7 in the light-heavyweight class (80 kilograms) — Tokyo Olympics silver medalists Carlo Paalam (57 kg.) and Nesthy Petecio (57 kg) and Aira Villegas (50 kg.) and Hergie Bacyadan (75 kg.) would all be thrown into the lion’s den when the official draw is held.

Seeding boxers is done to ensure that the favorites are not matched up early in the tournament to enhance the flow of the competitions.

Paalam, who caught the last bus to Paris, faces a formidable task since he will be fighting at a new weight class.

Although he placed second in Tokyo, it was in the much lower flyweight class.

In France, Paalam will campaign in the featherweight category, whose cast is spiked with one-time tormentor Abdulmalik Khalokov of Uzbekistan, a 2023 world champion and 2021 silver medalist and Asian Games king.

In the quarterfinals of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Khalokov, also the former Asian championships titlist and Summer Youth Olympics and Youth gold medal winner, easily blew away Paalam en route to the final.

Also worth watching are Jahmal Harvey of the United States, Jude Gallagher of Ireland, Makhmud Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan and Saidel Horta of Cuba.

Harvey won the 2021 world championships and the Pan Am Games while Gallagher is the Commonwealth games titleholder.

Sabyrkhan won a gold in the 2023 world championships and took the silver in the 2021 edition while Horta placed second in the 2023 worlds.

Marcial is winding up his Olympic buildup in the United States and is proceeding to Saarbrucken in Germany for a three-week camp with the rest of the Philippine squad before proceeding to Paris.

On top of the heap is Chinese Touhetaerbieke Tanglahatian, who beat Marcial for the Asian Games gold in Hangzhou last year, while other top picks include Cuban Arlen Lopez, Ukrainian Oleksandr Khyzhniak, Egyptian Abdelrahman Oralby, Australian Callum Peters, Brazilian Wanderley de Souza Perreira and Croatian Gabrije Veocic.

Still, Marcial can’t afford to look past the early opposition given the rock-solid cast in his weight class.

The seedings, according to Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines secretary general Marcus Manalo, were based on “continental qualifiers (Asian Games for us).”