No birthday party for Marcial: Boxer would rather train than celebrate
By Eddie Alinea of The Manila Times
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 06 Nov 2020
Marcial (L) with Roach.
Boxer Eumir Marcial turned 25 last October 29, but he couldn’t be bothered to celebrate his birthday in his quest for the country’s first Olympic gold.
The middleweight fighter has been hard at work at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California since legendary coach Freddie Roach took him under his tutelage two weeks ago.
No one even knew it was his birthday, Roach’s Filipino assistant Marvin Somodio said until they were told by The Manila Times in a phone interview on Sunday.
“So it was … Eumir’s birthday that day. He didn’t even tell us,” Somodio said in Taglish.
Had they known, he said, they would have given him respite.
Not that Marcial would take it — intent on fulfilling the prophecy.
In an earlier statement released by Fred Sternburg, president of the Sternburg Communications Inc., to The Manila Times, Roach was quoted as saying that Marcial has the potential to hand the Philippines its first Olympic gold medal and, at the same time, the only second Filipino to own the world middleweight belt.
The country has not won gold since the country’s initial participation in the quadrennial conclave in 1924.
But Somodio, who has been Wild Card staff since 2012, said Marcial looks happy enough.
“Eumir looks happy and is enjoying his stay here even if he’s away from his family,” he said.
“What coach (Roach) likes about him is, he looks really determined in giving our country our first Olympic gold medal. He’s hard-working and truly willing to learn.”
In his two-week stay at Wild Card, Somodio said their student has so far looked to have learned the rudiments of the technical knowhow Roach has been imparting him in terms of ring generalship and other basic things he has to learn.
“He can easily absorb,” Somodio, a long-time member of the national training pool before shifting to training boxers, observed. “In fact, coach Freddie has told us, Justin (physical conditioning guru Justin Fortune) and me, that if Eumir continues with his work ethics, by next week he could start sparring.”
Fortune, who is also eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao’s conditioning tactician, last week completed the three-man training team that will oversee Marcial’s build-up regimen.
To test Marcial’s durability, Fortune obliged the training team to grant the Olympian’s request to run the stiff, challenging Griffith Park.
“Of course, Eumir lasted for only half of what Manny had been doing,“ Marvin said chuckling. “But, according to Justin, that’s enough for him to diagnose the capability of the Olympic hopeful to endure the conditioning regimen he has prepared.”
“He’s good and strong,” Somodio quoted Fortune as saying after the trial run.
Roach, Somodio attested, has also finished the list of would-be sparring mates for Marcial after about a week or a maximum of two more weeks of basic studies.
“He’s been fighting as amateur for quite some time now and has, in fact, fought the best in his division before turning pro early this year,” he noted.
“Well, I heard he’s already ranked No. 2 in the world in the non-pro rank and that’s quite an accomplishment at his age, considering the dearth in talent in the country in his weight class.”
“As coach Freddie told us, being ranked that high in the middleweight division shows what kind of a fighter he is,” he said.
“As coach said, Marcial came to US at the right time with so many boxers coming in at the same time for him to practice with.”
“In the Philippines, the boxers in his division were smaller so he had fewer fighters to practice with.”
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea of The Manila Times.
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