MASAM SPORTS 18: EUMIR MARCIAL BACK TO TRAINING IN THE U.S. FOR HIS SECOND PRO BOUT AND THE SEA GAMES
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 20 Jan 2022
Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Felix Marcial will be very busy training for a second professional bout and a Southeast Asian Games campaign. He arrived in the United States and will train in Los Angeles for a possible April pro fight.
“Finally, I can now fully focus on my training. I was told to prepare for a scheduled outing. I need to be in excellent shape because I want to get back in the ring soon and also make myself available for the national team by May,” said Marcial as quoted by Inquirer Sports.
The coming SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam will be held from May 12 to 25 and Marcial is focused on winning another gold medal. The 26-year-old middleweight has won the gold medal in the past three editions of the regional biennial meet.
He represented the Philippines at the 2015 Singapore, 2017 Kuala Lumpur and 2019 Manila Southeast Asian Games and won the gold medals in those tournaments.
As a preparation for the Hanoi SEA Games, Marcial will be fast tracking his training in the US and a sojourn in Las Vegas is also scheduled for better honing up of his skills.
Marcial will undergo further improvements with the world renowned conditioning coach Angel Memo Heredia in Las Vegas which excites the 2019 World Championships silver medalist.
“I thank sir Sean (Gibbons, MP Promotions President) and Senator Manny (Pacquiao) for making sure I get the best possible team here in the US. I know a lot of great things that coach Memo has done that’s why it excites me a lot that I will also be under Memo’s program,” he said.
Marcial signed a multi-year deal with MP Promotions with the promise to continue to represent the Philippines in international amateur competitions such as the Southeast Asian Games and the Summer Olympics.
Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) approved the continuation of his professional fights but with a condition. “We understand that it will be tricky to be a national and professional athlete at the same time,” ABAP secretary general Marcus Manalo was quoted by Daily Tribune.
“We know the principle of specificity of training to be successful at both. So we told Eumir how important it is to train with the national team before open tournaments to also put preparation time in his timeline/calendar.”
He had an impressive professional debut on December 16, 2020 at the Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California, U.S., as he outclassed by unanimous decision American Andrew Whitfield from Lewiston, Idaho in a four-rounder.
The 26-year-old Eumir Felix de los Santos Marcial was born in Lunzuran, Zamboanga City. In the Tokyo Summer Games, he won by TKO against Algerian boxer Younes Nemouchi in the Round of 16. He stopped Armenian boxer Arman Darchinyan by a KO in the quarter finals.
Arman Darchinyan is from Vanadzor, Armenia now living in Los Angeles, California and is the nephew of former two-division world champion Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan whom Nonito Donaire knocked out twice and dethroned.
Marcial faced Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak in the semifinals and lost by a 3-2 split decision. Marcial brought home the first bronze medal by a Filipino boxer since 1992 Barcelona Olympics courtesy of Roel Velasco.
Marcial also won the gold medal at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan in the flyweight division. He also seized the gold at the 2020 Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in Amman, Jordan.
He was awarded the Best Asia Youth Boxer of the Year in 2013 when he won the light welterweight gold medal in the Asian Youth Championships in Subic, Zambales.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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