Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Marcial will begin training under a new strategist in the run-up to his second professional but being eyed to take place sometime in the third week of March in Las Vegas or Los Angeles.
Marcial arrived in Las Vegas yesterday after a three-hour drive from Los Angeles and will work with Jorge Capetillo, who used to be a part of world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s team.
The father-and-son duo of Sean and Brendan Gibbons drove Marcial to Sin City, where several other Filipino fighters will be setting up camp soon.
Marcial, who arrived in the United States on 17 January, first trained with Freddie Roach for his pro debut in December 2020 in downtown Los Angeles.
The iron-fisted Filipino lefty beat Andrew Whitfield in four rounds in his first punch-for-pay bout held at the Nokia Theater.
The elder Gibbons insists that the Marcial-Capetillo team-up is not yet final.
“But it’s going to be a trying out period,” Gibbons told Daily Tribune yesterday.
“I am excited with Eumir because he is fighting in a very competitive division.”
Simultaneous with Capetillo’s entry is the kickoff stage of the strength and conditioning program of the revered fitness guru Memo Heredia, who has vowed to turn the 26-year-old Marcial into a punching machine.
Heredia had a hand in Juan Manuel Marquez’s one-punch knockout of Manny Pacquiao in December 2012.
A former discus throw champion, Heredia likewise had a participation in Yordenis Ugas’ upset of Pacquiao last year which led to the eight-division champion’s retirement from the sport.
Before leaving Manila, Marcial conferred with the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines and the Philippine Olympic Committee, assuring them that he will return to the county and join the national team in Baguio to prepare for the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games in May.
