Zamboanga sports patron Junie Navarro swears he is lending a hand to Tokyo Olympics qualifier Eumir Marcial out of the goodness of his heart — no more, no less.
“Eumir and I go a long way,” Navarro told Daily Tribune as he deflected insinuations that he has a hidden agenda in his decision to host the Filipino middleweight’s training for the Summer Games in July.
“I have known him since he was about nine or 10 years old and I saw him when my father would give them incentives, not just the boxers, but other Zamboanga athletes as well,” Navarro said. Marcial, 25, is holding his training camp at Navarro’s facility in Zamboanga City.
Navarro insists he is not dipping his hands into the controversy surrounding Marcial, who is currently entangled with the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) over the alleged lack of support to his Olympic buildup.
“I am helping him as a friend and as a fellow Zamboangueño like what we did to (Rio Olympics silver medalist) Hidilyn Diaz and other Zamboanga athletes,” he said.
Navarro said he got a call from Marcial when the fighter was training with Freddie Roach in the United States.
“The boxing gym was actually unfinished because when my father Cesar died, the construction stopped and it was only when Eumir called that I decided to finish the construction.”
Marcial is being assisted in the training by Gerson Nietes, a handpicked ABAP coach and close pal of Marcial.
Also providing training expertise is Joven Jimenez, the lead trainer of world champion Jerwin Ancajas, who is likewise with Marcial there.
“I don’t want to get involved in those things (about Marcial’s issues with the ABAP and PSC),” he said.
