The coaching staff of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) is not rushing Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Marcial.
National team coach Ronald Chavez, who has been presiding over the Filipino boxers’ preparation for next month’s 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Hanoi, told Daily Tribune that Marcial has indeed settled in at the Muak Lek training facility in Thailand.
But given Marcial’s repeated trips to the floor in his second professional fight in Los Angeles, Chavez feels the hard-hitting southpaw needs to undergo a break-in period.
“We (coaches) decided not to let him spar right away because of the knockdowns (he suffered in his last fight),” Chavez, a quarterfinalist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, said.
Marcial was dropped three times by Isiah Hart — once in the first canto and twice in the second frame — in their scheduled six-rounder in Las Vegas on 9 April.
But Marcial stormed back by stopping a visibly-hurt Hart in the fourth round.
Chavez said Marcial will likely begin sparring on Thursday with the biggies of Thailand and Vietnam eagerly awaiting their chance to bang with the highly-touted Zamboanga native.
ABAP secretary-general Marcus Manalo said the boxing team will depart for the Vietnamese capital on 13 May via Bangkok.
The Hanoi SEA Games take the spotlight from 12 to 23 May in which the Filipinos are coming in as the defending champions.
