Carlo Paalam.

MANILA, Philippines — Carlo Paalam bagged a silver in flyweight boxing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and now in Paris, he’s going for gold as a featherweight. It’s a leap from 52kg to 57kg but Paalam is facing the challenge of moving up in weight class head on. Paalam begins his quest in the Round of 16 against Ireland’s Jude Gallagher at the Arena Paris Nord in Villepinte on Wednesday.

“When I was a boy, all I dreamed of was owning a bicycle,” said Paalam in Filipino. “As I grew up, I dared to dream big. My goal is to win Olympic gold and it’s what I’m working hard for.”

The sixth of eight children, Paalam was born in Bukidnon and grew up in Balingoan, Misamis Oriental. His parents split up when he was six and his father relocated to Cagayan de Oro to start a new life. As a boy, Paalam remembered living in a 50-square meter squatter shack with his seven siblings, sleeping on a sofa at night and rummaging through garbage piles to look for empty bottles, scrap metal and plastic containers to sell to junk shops. His first sale brought in P150 and he quickly went to market to buy P120 worth of rice for the family.

Discovering an alternative to scavenging, Paalam found a way out of poverty in boxing and was brought to Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno’s attention. He won his first amateur boxing bout at seven and at 10, was recruited by coach Elmer Pamisa to train with Moreno’s pool of young athletes in Cagayan de Oro. From Batang Pinoy to the Philippine National Games to the Asian and World Youth Championships to the SEA Games and to the Asian Games, Paalam battled his way to prominence. Today, he is one of only 12 athletes from the Philippines to capture Olympic medals and the fifth to pocket a silver.

From incentives provided by the public and private sectors for his boxing achievements, Paalam has collected about P25 million, 80 percent of which was his Olympic reward. A bonus for his Olympic silver was a P3.6 million two-storey, three-bedroom home that was given by Vismin Cebu Landmasters in Valmiro Uptown, Cagayan de Oro. Paalam also received a Tagaytay house and lot from POC president Mayor Bambol Tolentino.

With his earnings, Paalam put up a two-storey building that included a corner space for a sari-sari store which his sister manages in Cagayan de Oro. From the sari-sari store sales and rentals in the building, he bankrolls about P1.1 million a year. Paalam also bought a three-hectare farm outside the city for his father to look after with cows, goats and a vegetable plantation.

Paalam finished high school at the University of Baguio, near the national boxing team’s training camp at Teachers Village but dropped out of first year college to focus on boxing. Down the road, Paalam plans to go back to school to earn a degree. In early 2022, Paalam married the love of his life Earlshane Padilla and they now have a baby girl Celeste. Securing a bright future for his family is a motivation that spurs Paalam to work ever harder at raising the level of his boxing skills. Paalam, 25, has come a long way from scavenging.