Marcial dominates Whitfield in pro debut
By Eddie Alinea of The Manila Times
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 17 Dec 2020
Filipino Olympian Eumir Marcial on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) showed why he’s the country’s brightest hope for its first ever Olympic god medal by cruising to a shutout unanimous decision victory over American Andre Whitfield at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles in California.
All the four judges saw the fight in favor of Marcial in a 40-36 outclassing of his American counterpart over four rounds in, actually, the Filipino middleweight’s professional debut, which he’s, too, using as a jumpstart in his build up for next year’s XXXII Games of the Olympiad.
Marcial dominated as soon as the opening bell sounded, displaying his vaunted heavy-punching prowess in the first three rounds before easing up in the playoff canto, dropping the equally promising Whitfield to his second loss in five start, highlighted by a pair of stoppage since turning pro four years ago.
Marcial (R) throws a right at Whitfield.
Right after his impressive triumph, Marcial said he’s dedicating his conquest of the pride of Lewiston in Idaho to the memory of his elder brother Eliver, who passed away only days after his arrival in the U.S. to train with Hall of Famer Freddie Roach, his promoter and idol Manny Pacquiao and his countrymen.
“As I said on the eve of my debut, I am dedicating this fight to my idol Sir Mnany, who is celebrating his 42nd birthday today, to Kuya Eliver na hindi ko man lang nakita noong pumanaw at sa ating mga kababayan!” the 25-year-old Zamboangueno declared.
Team Marcial: (L-R) Trainer Freddie Roach, MP Promotions' Sean Gibbons and Marcial pose after Marcial's victory over Whitfield in Los Angeles Wednesday.
Marcial, likewise, showed his willingness to battle the brave but outclassed Whitfield toe-to-toe and although he failed to stop his rival, whose right eye swelled after the second round and was completely closed by the third..
Both came out slugging with Whitfield trying to show who’s the real boss greeting Marcial with a hard right in the first round.
Marcial, not to be outdone, countered by repeatedly shaking Whitfield's head, making it an easy target in the exchanges causing a welt under the American's right eye, ending the round.
The younger Filipino, who made it to the 2021 Summer Games by winning the gold medal in Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualifier last March in Amman, Jordan, kept his hands busy and landed 120 of the 310 shots he threw in the entire fight and limiting Whitfield to just 46 punches he threw. 273.
Sean Gibbons, president of Manny Pacquiao Promotions to which Marcial signed just lately to provide the Philippine Air Force Airman a training program for failure of the Association of Boxing Alliance in the Philippines (ABAP) announced sees their ward to fight at least one more time to prepare him to give the Philippines its first Olympic gold in 96 years.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea of The Manila Times.
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