With trust in the process, Carlo Paalam now on cusp of Olympic gold medal

Carlo Paalam won't say goodbye just yet. Not until that gold medal is hanging around his neck.

And he is putting all his trust to the process now that he is just one win away from bagging a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics.

Paalam, who as a boy used to sell metal scraps to help earn some money for his family in Cagayan de Oro City, said he is taking it step by step, punch by punch on his way to Olympic glory.

"I'm just going to do my best," Paalam said in Filipino on Tuesday when he appeared on special episode of Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) forum.

"First of all, I wanted to thank God for giving my the strength and helping me trust myself," he added.

Paalam's road to the golden match was no picnic.

He had to hurdle tough and more experienced fighters in the first few rounds with Brendan Irvine testing the Filipino pug in the Round of 32.

Paalam, 23, was able to get away with a unanimous decision win over Irvine, who was a silver medalist in the 2015 European Games, en route to a Round of 16 duel with Mohamed Flissi of Algeria.

Paalam had another decisive victory against Flissi to barge into the quarterfinals. He was pitted against heavy favorite Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan, who is no less than the 2016 Rio gold medalist.

But Paalam proved to be too much for the world champion.

The game was halted at 1:16 mark of the second round as Paalam was hailed the winner via split decision.

Earlier, Paalam asserted mastery over home hope Ryomei Tanaka via an in impressive unanimous decision to secure his ticket to the finals and guarantee himself a silver plum.

All these, according to Paalam, stemmed from his belief in the process and sheer hard work.

"They [coaches] are reminding me to take it one step at a time and never rush things and to just play my game," he said.

—MGP, GMA News