By KRISTIAN DAVE ACHONDO
Staff member
AT a very young age, Carlo Paalam began his career in boxing. He was just a boy when he was admitted to the then Misamis Oriental governor Oscar Moreno’s grassroots-based amateur boxing program.
“Mga 10 years old siya na-discover ug nakasulod sa boxing program,” said city hall spokesperson Maricel Casiño-Rivera.
Paalam persisted and continued training under Moreno’s boxing program even when the latter became mayor of the city.
He was living in Zayas, Carmen, where he helped his family look for things to salvage at the then-city sanitary landfill so they could earn some money. They were so poor that there was a time, Paalam lived under terrible conditions.
“He came from humble beginnings. Taga-Zayas, Barangay Carmen sa una. Nagpuyo daw cla sa tangkal sa baboy. Gapamasura daw sila,” reads a Facebook post by Rivera.
But Paalam’s win at the 30th Southeast Asian Games held at the Philippines International Convention Center on Monday serves as an inspiration — that with hard work, perseverance and determination, success is possible.
The 21-year-old, who suffered a controversial defeat in the 2017 SEA Games, got his redemption, this time by winning the country’s first gold medal in boxing in the Men’s Light Flyweight division against Indonesia’s Kornelis Langu in a unanimous decision.
