From garbage picker to gold medal match: Carlo Paalam has come a long way

From the humblest of beginnings, Filipino boxer Carlo Paalam has come a long way.

When he was younger, Paalam was a former garbage-picker in Cagayan de Oro. He would collect and sell metal scraps to help earn money for his family.

His coach, Elmer Pamisa, still remembers meeting an 11-year-old Carlo, or “Dondon”, as the coach knew him way back in 2010, when he did a sparring session with a son of a local boxing coach.

“Nakikita nagdadala ng sako, madumi, walang tsinelas. Namumulot ng bote bote, mga bakal,” Pamisa said in Saleema Refran’s report on “24 Oras.”

[You would see him carrying a sack, dirty, no slippers. He would go around picking up bottles and scrap metals.]

“Naawa rin talaga ako sa bata kasi siyempre masipag tapos magaling. Kung sa basura, sayang yung abilidad niya sa boxing dahil magaling, matapang, tapos mabait na bata.”

[I felt for him because he was a hard worker and he was good. If he remained a garbage-picker, his boxing ability would have gone to waste, and he was skilled, he was brave, and he was a good kid.]

After that, they entered they young Paalam in the weekly “Boxing at the Park” events, which allowed Carlo to earn P100 to P200 each time he would fight.

Back then, he asked Pamisa to be his coach, a partnership the youngster hoped would last a long time.

“Sabi niya, ‘Sana coach, wag niyo kong iwan.’ Sabi ko, ‘Hindi kita iiwan,’” Pamisa shared. “Sabi niya, ‘Sana coach, kung may laro ako, pwede ka ba na ikaw yung maging coach?’ Sabi ko, ‘walang problema.’ Kaya hanggang ngayon, nagsama talaga kami.”

[He said, ‘Coach, I hope you won’t leave me.’ I said, ‘I won’t leave you.’ He said, ‘Coach, if I have a fight, would you be my coach?’ I said, ‘No problem.’ Until now, we’re still a team.”]

That team has made it from the park to the national team, and now, all the way to the gold medal match in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Paalam is glad that after all this time, his coach has stuck by him, a partnership that has stood the test of time.

“Siya yung kasama ko nung maliit ako. Hanggang ganitong edad, kasama ko pa rin siya. Sobrang saya ko nga po kasi kasama ko siya dito,” Paalam said.

[He was with me since I was little. Until my age now, he’s still with me. That’s why I’m so happy he’s here with me.]

—JMB, GMA News