Fresh from a silver in Tokyo, Carlo Paalam not yet thinking of turning pro

Carlo Paalam bared he will remain an amateur boxer — at least for now.

The young pugilist said on Sunday that he is not yet thinking of turning into a professional fighter, the same path that his senior Eumir Marcial took last year when he signed under the MP Promotions.

"For me, I am not thinking of that [turning professional] as of now. It has not come to me yet," Paalam said Filipino in a virtual press conference arranged by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).

For Paalam, all he's thinking right now is to rejoin his family, who he has not seen for months now following a series of training camps en route to Tokyo Olympics.

He also added that his training won't stop as they are looking forward to an action-packed 2022 where the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Games will both be staged.

"My plan is to first get back to my family and of course, I will continue with the training."

Paalam did not promise anything about the next edition of Olympic in Paris in 2024 but stressed he will do anything in his capacity to deliver a medal of any color to the Philippines.

But heading to Paris, meanwhile, Paalam can build on his silver medal finish in the Tokyo Games where he was able to dethrone the 2016 Rio gold medalist Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan during their quarterfinals clash.

He also asserted mastery over hometown bet Ryomei Tanaka in the semifinals via an impressive unanimous decision to guarantee himself a silver.

But he fell short of upgrading that to gold as fell prey to Galal Yafai of Great Britain in the gold medal round on Saturday.

Still, Paalam vowed to get another crack at the gold medal in the next Summer Games.

"I can't promise anything but to do all my best in the upcoming Paris [Olympics] and Asian Games."

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News