Whether the judges scored all of Rzany’s shots — real or imagined — or ignored Payla’s hits, nobody would know. The sure thing is the 18-14 setback that Payla took was a bitter pill to swallow.
"Hindi naman ako tinamaan, master," Payla mumbled to coach George Caliwan as he checked the gash in his chin inflicted by his rival’s accidental head butt.
"Tinamaan ka," Caliwan countered. "Pero hindi ganon karami." Their reaction could be construed as sourgraping. But others seemed to prove otherwise.
"I thought you won. I believed you won," said Sebastian Gouthier, the Canadian fighter whom Payla outclassed in the semis Friday.
"Hard luck," said the Egyptian and England camps.
Payla, 22, flicked away hooks that often hit their targets, unleashed 1-2 combinations that staggered his rival in the middle rounds, and had a clean left straight that clearly hurt Rzany late in the third.
The Polish, cheered on by the host crowd, did connect with body shots and right crosses. But Payla held his ground while sneaking jabs and punches to stay in control.
Or so he seemed.
For when Rzany started to dance away the last 1:11 of the fight, the most feared outcome became clear as day for the Caltex-backed RP team.
Rzany’s victory sparked a six-gold splurge by the hosts with the Russians winning three and Belarus, Scotland and Ireland copping one gold each. Aside from Payla’s silver, the RP team bagged two bronze medals courtesy of bantamweight Vincent Palicte and featherweight Roel Laguna.