After our 2024 France Olympics boxing team came up with “only” 2 bronze medals, predictably came the spirited outrcy of a revamp in our boxing program.
We had high hopes for this team considering that our country paraded Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, who won silver medals in the Tokyo Olympics, and Eumir Marcial, who was a bronze medalist. Also making it to the games were Hergie Bacyadan and Aira Villegas.
PERFORMANCE. Marcial, Paalam, and Bacyadan exited early and failed to make the medal rounds. Petecio lost to Julia Szeramata in the semifinals and had to settle for the bronze, while Villegas, who was making her debut in the Olympic games, also won a bronze.
Paalam’s loss was definitely a heartbreaker. He started strong in the first round, but his opponent, Charlie Senior of Australia, came back strong in the second stanza. The third was close, but Paalam was clearly more aggressive and had the stronger showing.
Still, this is amateur boxing where judging can be spotty and ultimately verdicts are based on preferences.
SUBJECTIVE. Up until 2016, Olympic boxing was scored based on hits appreciated by the five judges sitting ringside.
But during the 2016 Rio Olympics, the 10-point-must scoring system was implemented to make it more similar to scoring in the pro ranks.
To the un-initiated, the 10-point-must scoring system simply means that the judges will award 10 points to the boxer who won that particular round and assign a 9 to the opponent. It can go as low as 8 or 7 when a knockdown has transpired.
At the end of the fight, the scores per round are tallied and the fighter who has the most points is declared winner.
It may sound simple, but I assure you it’s not, and this system - albeit this is the best one anyone has ever come up with since the dawn of civilization - is certainly flawed.
If knockdowns are involved, or when one fighter thoroughly dominates the other, then this system is very effective as it is quite easy to determine which fighter gets a 10.
However, when the fight is close then individual judges’ preferences come into play.
Say for example, fighter A is more of a brawler who likes to dictate the pace of a fight by coming forward aggressively while fighter B is a boxer-counterpuncher who likes to fight on his toes, moving laterally while waiting for openings.
This is where opinions vary in the same manner that you probably prefer your eggs scrambled while I prefer mine sunny-side up and a bit runny.
In a perfect world, judges should, despite their biases, score rounds in favor of the boxer who fought more effectively regardless of style.
For me the bottom line will always be the competence of these judges and the vetting process needs to be examined because scoring in these games comes down to a nuanced perspective.
I actually am very satisfied with our 2-bronze medal haul for the 2024 Olympics games, taking into account we only had five fighters qualifying and how difficult it is to win in amateur boxing.
Of course, we should always aim to do better and so it’s back to the drawing board for us. But we should also manage our expectations.
LAST ROUNDS. Are on newlyweds Rouie and Jazzy Illustrisimo who recently tied the knot.