Shutout for Marcial
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 18 Dec 2020
Olympic middleweight qualifier Eumir Marcial outlanded tough Andrew Whitfield by a rate of three punches to one and left the Idaho brawler with his right eye swelled to a slit in pounding out a unanimous four-round decision to mark his pro debut at the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles yesterday morning (Manila time).
There was no doubt as to who was the superior fighter as Marcial connected 120 of 310 blows compared to Whitfield’s 46 of 273, broken down by round to 30-11 in the first, 39-22 in the second, 21-3 in the third and 30-10 in the fourth. A left hook caused a lump under Whitfield’s right eye in the first round and by the end of the second, it grew to an ugly welt that prompted an examination by the ringside physician. Marcial stepped up his attack in the third and pummeled Whitfield, 15 punches to one, to start the surge. But somehow, Whitfield refused to go down.
Whitfield came closest to crumpling to the canvas early in the second round when Marcial blasted a left hook to the jaw. He was staggered and stumbled back on shaky legs yet stayed on the feet. Referee Rudy Barragan gave Whitfield the chance to survive the distance. Judges Don DeVerges, Ron Scott Stevens and Damian Walton scored it identical 40-36 in a shutout that was Marcial’s birthday gift to Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
“Nanibago ako sa pro, iba yung gloves, iba yung timbangan,” said Marcial. “Determinado at insayado rin yung kalaban ko, palaban siya. Marami pa akong dapat ma-improve, sa depensa, timing ng suntok, footwork. Nakaramdam din ako ng pagod at namaga ng konti yung aking right knuckle. Magandang experience sa akin at focus ko sa Olympics.” After the fight, he spoke on the phone with his wife Princess, who’s in Cavite still waiting for a US visa to join him. “Sana magsama na kami sa bagong taon,” he said. “Gabi gabi, nagdadasal ako para magkita ulit kami. Sabi niya, improve, practice at dagdag ang conditioning ko.”
Marcial’s strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune said it was “a good start” but there’s still a lot of room for improvement, rating his performance a 70 percent out of 100. “Eumir looked a little tired,” said Fortune referring to the fourth round when Marcial eased the pressure and brought his hands down. “We did workouts only twice a week since he also needed to spar and do other things in the gym. He’s not allowed to work out on Saturdays because of his religion. I thought he took a few unnecessary shots. He could’ve moved his head more. But credit to Whitfield, he’s a tough guy. He took some solid body shots. I felt Eumir could’ve stopped him though.” Whitfield managed to hit Marcial with right uppercuts and right straights during close quarters slugging. Marcial said he was hurt by a body shot and a left hook to the face.
Fortune said he was surprised that Marcial didn’t box more. “Because of his amateur background, I expected Eumir to box more than go toe-to-toe,” he said. “In that respect, I thought he fought Whitfield’s fight more than his. But a win’s a win. Eumir has a lot more work to do. He’s a tremendous talent and I have no doubt he’ll go far.”
Working Marcial’s corner in the fight were Freddie Roach, cutman Mike Rodriguez and MP Promotions head Sean Gibbons subbing for Marvin Somodio who excused himself to prepare his ward Eimantas Stanionis in the next fight.
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