Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Marcial made strength coach Memo Heredia’s weekend in Las Vegas.
Nope, the Filipino fighter didn’t hit the slot machine jackpot and decided to give Heredia a windfall.
Marcial did more than that.
Instead of resting and relaxing since it’s a Sunday, Marcial got dressed for training and wound up working with Heredia in a track oval.
“Soon to be a world champion. Working on Sundays. Every champion there is no days off. There you go. This is what I’m talking about: Discipline, desire equal success,” Heredia said about the video that he posted on social media.
Marcia and Heredia have started their team-up in preparation for the fighter’s second professional bout late next month.
Sean Gibbons, who represents Marcial, is eyeing Las Vegas or Los Angeles as probable sites.
A lot is expected from Marcoal, a hard-hitting lefty who is being tipped to follow the footsteps of Ceferino Garcia, who remains to this day the Philippines’ one and only world middleweight champion.
Gibbons and Heredia are optimistic the long wait would soon be over.
You see, Garcia — famous for inventing the “Bolo Punch” — reigned briefly as world 160-lb king for only five months from December 1939 until may 1940.
Since then, no other Filipino boxer had come close to becoming one although two others — Armand Picar and Manny Pacquiao — fought for the junior-middleweight crowns in 1994 and 2010.
Picar was knocked out in two rounds by Julio Cesar Vazquez of Argentina while Pacquiao beat up Antonio Margarito of Mexico.
But Pacquiao didn’t hold on to the championship and later vacated it, saying it was not the right weight for him.
They were the closest to winning the middleweight title.
This is the reason why Gibbons is looking forward to putting Marcial’s pro career running.
With Heredia taking charge of his conditioning, Marcial’s chances of striking it big is getting a massive push given Heredia’s solid track record.
Heredia had a hand in Juan Manuel Marquez’s awesome one-punch knockout of Pacquiao in 2012 and Yordenis Ugas’ breakthrough win over the eight-division legend last year.
There’s just one thing that bothers me.
Before arriving in America, Marcial assured the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines and Philippine Olympic Committee that he will be back for national team duties.
So, what happens now to Gibbons’ plan to speed up Marcial’s rise in the pro ranks?
That sounds like a great topic for another column.
