The 24-year old flyweight from Cagayan de Oro was a small package that proved too big to handle for the Estonian who spent most of four rounds trying desperately to get the relentless Filipino off his face.
The well-applauded performance at the Helsinki Sports Hall made Payla the second finalist for RP Revicon, which lost one more man in veteran Ferdie Gamo in the bantamweight semifinals.
Up against Russian Gennadi Kovalev, Gamo put up a heroic effort but couldn’t get the judges’ attention as he dropped a 9-23 setback — just one of the matches that drew knowing stares in the direction of the jury.
That left Payla and Junard Ladon to carry the load for the team sent here by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines with support from the Philippine Sports Commission, Revicon and Pacific Heights.
Ladon made it all the way to the finals because of the lack of entries in the featherweight division.