By CARLO ANOLIN
Boxer Eumir Felix Marcial is determined to produce the country’s first Olympic gold medal that he’s now working double time ahead of the Tokyo Games in July.
Marcial, who is currently based in Los Angeles, California, shared recent updates on social media regarding his training under the helm of renowned coach Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Boxing Club.
In his Instagram post Thursday, Marcial trained alongside Roach and former American Olympian Pepe Reilly, who competed in the men’s welterweight event during the 1992 Summer Olympics.
“Couldn’t thank these people enough for their help,” wrote the 25-year-old Marcial with the hashtag #roadtotokyo2021.
Two days ago, Marcial, clad in Philippine Air Force training sando, conducted 18 rounds of sparring, punching bag, punching mitt, and workout sessions.
Ricky Vargas, president of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP), earlier said the Zamboanga-native boxer had expressed desire to join the national boxing team for a training camp in Thailand.
ABAP, through secretary-general Ed Picson, said Marcial’s second professional fight has low chances of coming into fruition which could pave the way for the prized boxer’s availability in the Thailand camp.
Marcial won his pro debut by scoring a hard-earned unanimous decision win against American Andrew Whitfield.
The rest of the Philippine boxing team are holed up at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna under a bubble setup.
The likes of Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, given their current world rankings in their respective divisions, are likely to join Marcial (middleweight) and Irish Magno (flyweight) in the Tokyo Games after the Olympic Boxing Task Force (BTF) decided to scrap the World Qualifiers and base the qualification through rankings instead.
Petecio is ranked No. 2 in women’s featherweight while Paalam has the No. 12 spot in the men’s flyweight.
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IG Embed:
Roach and Reilly – https://www.instagram.com/p/CLtCvHss5tN/
Workout – https://www.instagram.com/p/CLnl9b6l0kf/
