Carlo Paalam expressed his frustrations after another narrow finals loss in the Asian Games 2026 men’s boxing 55kg, saying he felt his momentum was repeatedly disrupted during the fight.
Paalam settled for silver, the Philippine boxing team’s lone medal in Aichi-Nagoya, after losing to Japan’s Rui Yamaguchi by split decision at Nishio Gymnasium on Friday.
Paalam said repeated stoppages by Uzbek referee Maruf Urdushev disrupted his rhythm, particularly when he felt he was building momentum.
‘I felt good, but again, the referee. I don’t know, it wasn’t a good decision. I don’t know why the referee kept looking at me,’ Paalam said after the bout in Filipino.
‘Whenever I had momentum, he would stop it. The referee was really like that. It felt like I was always the one being watched,’ he added.
ABAP president Marcus Manalo was also frustrated by the decision to assign the same referee to the final after he officiated Paalam’s semifinal.
‘It was frustrating that the same referee who officiated his semifinal was appointed again in the final. There were so many other referees available,’ Manalo said. ‘When I saw the referee come out, I was like, ‘Again?” Manalo told POC Media.
Paalam knew he needed a strong final round after trailing on the judges’ scorecards through the first two rounds. He responded by winning all five judges’ cards in the third, but it was not enough to overturn the deficit.
‘I just did my best and pushed myself in the last round because I knew I had to take it. I had nothing left. I gave everything,’ he said.
The Filipino also felt his improvements throughout the bout did not matter once the decision was left to the judges.
‘All the improvements were there. Like I said, the decision wasn’t in our hands. No matter how hard you try to win, if the judges decide otherwise, there’s nothing you can do,’ Paalam said.
National team coach Ronald Chavez shared Paalam’s frustration, saying the Filipino corner felt the fight was difficult from the start and eventually told Paalam to chase a knockout.
‘We weren’t necessarily at a disadvantage in the fight, but we knew the referee and judges could hurt us. With the referee, it felt like Carlo was being singled out,’ Chavez said.
‘After the first round, I thought we were ahead. But I felt it was going to be close, so I told him there was nothing else we could do. If you can’t knock him out, anything can happen,’ he added.
Despite the disappointment, Paalam said he plans to rest briefly before returning to training.