One minute and 11 seconds
Eumir Marcial needed only that much time to lord over the men’s featherweight category in the 30th Southeast Asian Games boxing finals, Monday night at the PICC Forum.
The 24-year-old knocked out Nguyen Manh Cuong of Vietnam to secure his third SEA Games gold. He won his first in 2015 as a welterweight, then in 2017 as a middleweight.
“Hindi ako nagkumpiyansa kasi siyempre boxing ito eh. Lahat pwedeng mangyari,” said the former youth boxing champ.
The match was already expected to be a quick one when Marcial landed strong blows, leading to the referee giving the Vietnamese a standing eight-count just about a minute into the fight.
Seconds later, Marcial cornered his foe and swarmed him until he fell down, prompting the referee to stop the bout.
The Zamboanga-native’s big triumph is a great way to punctuate a successful day for Philippine boxing, as the hosts collected a total of seven gold medals.
Carlo Paalam kicked things off after a unanimous victory over Indonesian foe Kornelis Langu in the men’s light flyweight category to finally snag his first SEA Games medal.
Rogen Ladon followed suit, again winning unanimously over Thai Amarit Yaodam for the men’s flyweight crown.
Josie Gabuco beat Indonesian Endang via UD in women’s light flyweight, raising her SEA Games gold collection to five. She has two titles as a pinweight, and now three in her current weight class.
SEA Games first-timer James Palicte topped Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Hai via UD to win the men’s light welterweight. Meanwhile, Charly Suarez won the men’s lightweight after beating Thai bet Khunatip Pidnuch.
Reigning AIBA world champion Nesthy Petecio earned a unanimous decision victory over Ni Oo Nwe of Myanmar in the women’s featherweight final to win her first-ever SEA Games gold.
