Marcial Should Focus on Pro Career
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 04 Aug 2024
Felix Eumir Marcial should heed the advise of no less than the Kazakh middleweight great Gennady Golovkin that he leaves the amateurs and focus on his professional career.
After drawing a bye, Marcial lost to Uzbekistan's Turabek Khabibellaev in the second round via unanimous decision and got eliminated in the Paris Olympics boxing competition.
There is no shame in that defeat as Marcial has been only forced to fight in the heavier 81 kg or light heavyweight class after organizers abolished the 75 kg or middleweight class which was his effective fighting weight. The Zamboanga del Sur native won the silver in the last World Championship and the bronze in the last Tokyo Olympics fighting as a middleweight which had been his fighting class since the mid 2010s.
Moving up to 81 kg, Marcial was faced with the challenge of tangling with taller and more powerful foe like Khabibullaev who is also younger. If it is any consolation, his Uzbek conqueror forced Cuba's Arlen Lopez to fight to his optimum in losing a close 3-2 split decision in the round of 16. Lopez is favored to repeat as Olympic champion in the class.
A sign of Eumir's difficult adjustment showed when he fought and lost to China's Touteherbieke Tanghalatian in the Guangzhou Asiad finals in the 81 kg division. Tanghalatian who held previous win over Lopez, has also been eliminated in the initial round of the Paris Olympics boxing competition losing 5-0 to Dominican Christian Pinales.
Only the other podium finisher at middleweight in the Tokyo Games defeating Marcial 3-2 in the semis, silver medalist Oleksander Khrisniak of Ukraine, has advanced to the quarterfinals of the 81 kg in Paris.
With the abolition of the 75 kg class, the Tokyo Olympics gold medal winner Brazil's Herbert Conceicao did not bother continuing fighting as amateur and concentrated on his pro career. Conceicao who is still undefeated scored his biggest pro win thus far by beating another former Brazilian Olympian, silver medalist Esquiva Falcao recently.
Another of Marcial's illustrious contemporary Israil Madrimov had long left the amateurs and is now the WBA junior middleweight champion. Madrimov who had 2-1 record against Eumir in the amateurs, is defending his title today versus the famous Terrence Crawford in the main event of a big time promotion in Los Angeles, California.
High time for Felix Eumir Marcial to try his mettle in big time professional boxing as middleweight where Golovkin said he is a welcome addition.
It takes one to know one.
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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