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Philippines, 19 May 2024 |
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Marcial's first sparring lasts for only three rounds By Eddie Alinea of The Manila Times PhilBoxing.com Sat, 07 Nov 2020  Marcial. For the first time since earning a berth in the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games last March, Filipino middleweight Eumir Marcial on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) found himself atop the ring sparring with American 165-pounder Gabriel Rosado. The session with Rosado, which came barely two weeks after the Filipino Olympic hopeful set foot in Los Angeles to train under seven-time trainer of the year Freddie Roach, lasted for only three rounds because his sparring mate requested not to proceed with the scheduled four-round tiff. Rosado, reports said, is scheduled to fight next week against an unidentified opponent and, obviously, doesn’t want to prejudice his coming bout. But that doesn’t mean, too, that the power-hitting Marcial didn’t make a dent in his brief skirmish with the veteran 34-year-old, who has fought 39 times so far, including challenging twice for the middleweight world title in 2013. No less than the Puerto Rico-born Rosado, who is now based in Philadelphia, who attested to the Filipino’s power when he was quoted after the sparring kiddingly asking the southpaw Marcial whether he was wearing boxing gloves. He was also quoted as saying he didn't expect Marcdial to that powerful a puncher. That was Marcial’s first experience climbing the ring since March 8 when he won the god medal in the 2020 Asia and Oceania Olympic boxing qualifiers held in Amman, Jordan. Since then, however, he, along with national boxing teammate Irish Magno, who also earned her ticket to Tokyo, was left on his own due to the lockdown imposed by the government on all sports activities brought about by the Covid 19 pandemic. Forcing him to turn pro without prejudice to his and his countrymen’s dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. This led him, too, to fly to the U.S, and seek the help of Roach, who owns the Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood, to train under the latter’s wing, just like his idol, eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. For a fortnight since arriving in L.A. Roach, assisted by his able lieutenant, Filipino deputy Marvin Somodio and physical conditioning coach Justin Fortune, whipped Marcial back to a condition to last the grind of sparring. And the Zamboanga native, who just turned 25 last October 29, looked to have passed the test with flying colors that Roach and his training team has charted a build up program, including a three-day-a-week sparring (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). “It’ll be a slow but sure process of preparations,” Somodio told this writer on Friday during an overseas long distance interview. “Coach Freddie and Marcial’s promoter (Manny Pacquiao Promotions) see him to be debuting as a pro in December.” “With what Eumir has shown in his first two weeks here, tingin namin sa training team, hinog na siya para lumaban as a pro, which will serve as part of his preparedness for the Olympic Games,” Somodio assured as told him by his Hall of Fame boss. Somodio said Marcial, is back to sparring on Friday (Saturday in Manila) with most-likely Rosado, again, as his dancing partner unless Roach would assign one of his fighters to do the chore. “Tuloy na ang build up natin for the Olympics,” Marcial said as relayed to the MANILA TIMES by a close associate, who added, ”ang isa pang malaking problema ay ang gagastusin habang nasa Amerika.” The associate clarified, though, that although Marcial has signed up with Many Pacquiao’s MP Promtions, the deal limited only to promoting his fights. It’s up for Eumir to look for sponsors for his preparations to give the country our first Olympic gold medal.” Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea of The Manila Times.  |
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