Middleweight Eumir Marcial and flyweight Carlo Paalam take on separate rivals in the semifinals of men’s boxing at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, August 5, at the Kokugikan Arena.
Marcial, who advanced to the medal rounds by scoring back-to-back first round wins, takes on former tormentor Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine at 2:03 p.m. (Philippine time).
Paalam, on the other hand, battles hometown bet Ryomei Tanaka, who scored a controversial win over Rivas Martinez of Colombia in the quarterfinals.
After his 4-1 win over Martinez, Tanaka was wheeled out of the arena because of exhaustion.
The Paalam-Tanaka bout begins at 1:30 p.m. (Philippine time)
Both Filipino boxers are one win away from an assured silver medal and two wins away from the gold.
Marcial has been impressive in the tournament, so far.
He needed only two minutes and 41 seconds to hurdle past Younes Nemouchi of Algeria in the round of 16 and it took him two minutes and 11 seconds to dispose of Arman Darchinyan of Algeria in the round of 8.
Up next for the fighter from Zamboanga City is Khyzhniak, who has beaten him in the 2018 Strandja Memorial in Sofia, Bulgaria.
This time, Marcial said, the outcome will be different.
“Ready po ako sa laban na ito. During nu’ng laban namin, na-injured ako, kaya natalo ako. Sa pakiramdam ko, kundisyon na kundisyon ako ngayon. Ready po ako sa laban na ito (I’m ready for this fight. I lost to him in our previous bout because I was injured. I feel I’m in great condition now. I’m ready for this fight),” said the 25-year-old Marcial.
Paalam, likewise, is confident of winning over his Japanese foe.
To reach the semifinals, the boxer from Cagayan de Oro City scored one of the biggest upset wins in the Tokyo Olympics when he ousted 2016 Rio Games gold medalist and former world champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in the round of 8.
The bout was stopped in the second round after a nasty clash of heads that resulted in a deep cut above Zoirov’s left eye. The win was awarded to Paalam who was ahead on points at the time of stoppage – 20-19 from four judges and a tied 19-19 score from the fifth official for a 4-0 win.
However, Paalam needs to dominate his semifinals foe and score a convincing win against Tanaka to advance.
In the women’s featherweight gold medal bout on Wednesday, Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines bowed to Sena Irie of Japan via unanimous decision.
The first round was close as both fighters landed solid punches, but the five judges scored the round in favor of the hometown fighter.
Petecio turned on the heat in the second round, repeatedly attacked Irie’s defense and got the nod of four judges.
Petecio continued to be aggressive in the third and final round but the judges gave the round and the bout to the Japanese, leaving the fighter from Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur with the silver medal.
