Expect Eumir Marcial to be back in the ring before 2021 ends.
MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons said that they plan to stage a fight for the middleweight sensation before the year comes to a close, which would mark his return to the pros after concentrating on the Tokyo Olympics.
“We’re hoping by the beginning of September to have him over here and absolutely, he’s going to be in the ring somewhere, having another pro fight, by the end of the year,” he told Radyo5’s Power and Play, Saturday.
That would be the 25-year-old’s second pro fight, should things fall into place. The former AIBA world champ made his pro debut last December in Los Angeles, where he beat Andrew Whitfield in lopsided fashion.
Marcial went on to shift his focus for the 32nd Olympiad after that. He rejoined the Nationals in the ASBC Asian Elite Championships before returning to the States to resume his preparations for the Summer Games.
The Zamboanga native was among those expected to give the Philippines a gold medal, and appeared to do just that when he stopped both Younes Nemouchi and Arman Darchinyan en route to the semis.
“He looked tremendous in his first two fights,” Gibbons said.
Unfortunately, a familiar foe in Oleksandr Khyzhniak proved to be too tough to overcome. Their fight went the distance, but Marcial was not able to get the judges’ nod and bowed, settling for bronze instead.
“He came up against a guy that was 61-and-0 in the last five years, he was winning the fight going into the third round, he just couldn’t make a few adjustments, got a little tired,” Gibbons offered.
Nonetheless, Gibbons, and of course MP Promotions owner Sen. Manny Pacquiao, is extremely proud of what he had accomplished in Tokyo, where he’s among the four Filipino athletes which took home a medal.
“You know, I’m very impressed and I’m very proud of Eumir. Fighting at that weight, in that division, a hundred and sixty-five pounds, is not easy,” he told the program hosted by former PBA commissioner Noli Eala.
“I’m just so happy that he was able to achieve a medal, made the Philippines proud, made his family proud, made himself proud, and Senator and myself are very proud of what he accomplished,” he added.
Marcial himself had said previously that he won’t stop until he brings home that elusive Olympic boxing gold. But while he waits for the 2024 Paris Olympics, building his budding professional career is on top of his list for now.
And that resumes before the year wraps up.
“That’s a gimme. For sure.”
