BY NICK GIONGCO
Newly-signed Olympic boxer Eumir Marcial should find himself on board a US-bound jet by next month to set the stage for his long awaited professional debut.
“I am looking at getting Eumir here in the USA sometime in August to have a solid few months,” said American promoter Sean Gibbons yesterday from Las Vegas.
The plan is for Marcial to report for training at the Wild Card Boxing Club of Freddie Roach in Hollywood in preparation for an appearance on a “monster card” in October.
Marcial, a stone-fisted middleweight lefty, inked a contract with Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions two weeks ago.
Gibbons, the president of MP Promotions, said the 24-year-old Marcial will see action in an event that will be staged by Premier Boxing Champions.
Marcial, who qualified for the Tokyo Games next year after topping the Asia-Oceania slugfest last March in Amman, Jordan, is in good company over at MP Promotions.
Aside from world welterweight king Pacquiao, MP Promotions also represents the country’s three other world champions in John Riel Casimero, Jerwin Ancajas and Pedro Taduran aside from rising star Mark Magsayo.
Gibbons plans to give Marcial, a Zamboanga native, three to four fights in the pros as a buildup for his stab at Olympic glory in 2021.
Marcial will campaign at middleweight (160 lbs) in the pro backyard and will attempt to become only the second Filipino fighter to capture the world title in the storied category after Ceferino Garcia pulled off the feat at Madison Square Garden in New York in 1939.
