Could Eumir's Better Option is Getting Down to 71 kg?
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 06 Apr 2024
This is already a hindsight but could Eumir Marcial has been better off boiling down to 71 kg (156.5+ lbs) than going up to 80 kg (176 lbs+) with the abolition of the middleweight class in the 2024 Paris Olympics?
As amateur, Marcial had been fighting at middleweight (69-75 kg) since the 2010s and the non inclusion for the first time of the weight class caught him and his contemporaries by surprise, with most opting to compete in the nearest higher weight division, i.e. the light heavyweight. This includes him and former world champion Oleksandr Khrysniak.
But the light heavyweight is not only heavier but much tougher division with Cuban Olympic defending champion Arlen Lopez expected to lead the charge for the gold in Paris. China's Touhetaerbieke Tanglahatian who beat him for the Asiad gold will be around as other taller and bigger veterans to put hurdles in his bid for a podium finish.
As Marcial has been a pro fighting at middleweight or 160 lbs, perhaps his handlers could have done better in moving him down to the 71 kgs or 156+ lbs class which is closer to his usual fighting weight in both the amateurs and the pros than pushing to fight at light heavyweight.
It was obvious in the last Asiad that Eumir could not carry his power to the light heavyweights. 80 kg is not his fighting weight. Eumir could not even make the lower limit of the division it seems without showing some fat.
Inversely, Eumir moving down to 71 kg would have make him more than the wrecking machine he was at middleweight. With proper weight management and monitoring as well as scientific conditioning, of course. It also requires strict discipline on the part of Eumir.
The fear is that moving down would weaken Eumir. The fear is valid but given enough preparation, Eumir could have adapted to the lower weight without losing his strength and punching power.
A Marcial contemporary has successfully done so in the pros - Israil Madrimov who had fought as middleweight most of his amateur career but turned pro as super welterweight or 154 lbs and is now a world champion.
Madrimov has shown moving down in weight is not bad.
What is bad is seesawing up and down in weight as what is happening with Marcial who is fighting as middleweight in the pros and light heavyweight in the amateurs and back to middleweight after his amateur stint.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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