By DENNIS PRINCIPE
Tokyo Olympics-bound Eumir Felix Marcial scored a hard-earned victory in his professional debut against American Andrew Whitfield Thursday at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles, California.
The 25-year-old Marcial had to take a good number of crisp punches but still managed to outwork his American rival en-route to a four-round unanimous decision win.
“Unang round pa lang tinamaan ako, naramdaman ko yung suntok niya kasi mas manipis ang gloves sa pro na 10oz. Sa amateur kasi 12oz ang gamit namin,” said Marcial.
Marcial was his usual self as he pummeled Whitfield with combinations to the face and body. By the second round, Whitfield’s right eye was already badly swollen.
But the southpaw from Zamboanga also took some blows as Whitfield proved to be a tough nut to crack and seemingly showed no respect to Marcial’s credentials.
“Siguro talagang pinaghandaan niya ako kasi three months ago, alam na niya yung laban. Tsaka siguro matagal ako walang training dahil sa pandemic kaya struggle din ako na makuha yung tamang kondisyon,” said Marcial.
“At least hindi ako binigyan ng kalaban na hihiga na lang. Crucial din na makakuha ng sparmates kasi wala ako sparring last two weeks dahil gusto ng mga mag-sparring sa akin ay may bayad na,” said Marcial.
All three judges scored the bout with identical 40-36.
This was Marcial’s first fight since his March ring conquest when he secured a slot in the Tokyo Olympic Games by winning the gold in the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament.
“Sinabihan na ako ni Sir Sean (Gibbons) kung gusto ko muna magbakasyon pero sabi ko one week lang pahinga ko training na agad ako. Kailangan ko pa ng maraming experience kaya tuloy tuloy na para mas lalong gumanda tsansa natin sa Olympics,” added Marcial.
Marcial, who signed a promotional deal with MP Promotions in July, became idle since the start of the pandemic until he decided to proceed to the United States last October to train under Roach.
Marcial is preparing for his campaign in next year’s Tokyo Olympics scheduled July 23-August 8, 2021.
