Filipino middleweight Eumir Marcial, who is bound for the Tokyo Olympic Olympics in 2021, isn’t totally turning his back on amateur-style boxing even as he makes his much-awaited professional debut next month.
One of the southpaw Marcial’s sparring partners is unbeaten super-welterweight Madiyar Ashkeyev, formerly a standout of the Kazakhstan national team before migrating to the United States.
Ashkeyev, holder of a 14-0 record with seven KOs, fought extensively for Kazakhstan during his amateur days and he worked out with Marcial at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood. Though they didn’t get to fight each other, they share a common foe: Daniyar Yeleussinov.
Marcial has lost twice to Yeleussinov in 2015 while Ashkeyev also fell to the Olympic, world and Asian Games champion, during their storied amateur stint back in their native Kazakhstan. Yeleussinov, like Ashkeyev, has turned pro and is already campaigning in the US.
Marcial, 25, arrived in the US last month after signing up with the Manny Pacquiao-owned MP Promotions.
Sean Gibbons, who heads MP Promotions, has contracted Freddie Roach as lead trainer and Filipino Marvin Somodio as assistant and Justin Fortune as strength coach in the hopes that Marcial gets a shot at the Tokyo gold medal.
Since reporting for duty at the Wild Card, the famous sweatshop on Vine Street that Pacquiao used as the site of his camp since 2001, Marcial has received nothing but praise from Roach and Somodio.
“He’s very eager to learn (new things),” Somodio said.
During Marcial’s latest sparring session, Gibbons told Daily Tribune that “Eumir did a total of six rounds, including three with Ashkeyev.”
