Eumir Marcial
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Marcial will make his second professional bout on April 9 against American Isaiah Hart in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The 26-year old Marcial is currently in the United States with MP Promotions and trains alongside the latter’s top boxers such as former world champion Jerwin Ancajas, Jonas Sultan, and WBC world featherweight king Mark Magsayo.
His duel with the more experienced Hart is part of his preparations for the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Hanoi, Vietnam in May.
In his professional debut on December 16, 2020, Marcial defeated Andrew Whitfield (4-3, 3KOs) in their four-rounder bout under the middleweight division at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles, California.
Marcial won by unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the bout 40-36.
However, Hart is far from being a pushover like Whitfield. The 30-year old American from Mays Landing, New Jersey is more experienced in the pro scene.
He has a record of 6-2-1 (win-loss-draw) with four knockouts and has won two of his last four fights since 2020.
He defeated Luis Millan in January 2020 via unanimous decision in a four-rounder before losing to Ashton Skye by unanimous decision two months later.
He returned in the ring in March 2021 and defeated Ernesto Cardona Sanchez via a third-round technical knockout, but lost to Francis Hogan via a sixth-round TKO in July 2021.
On the other hand, Marcial, in 2021, was busy campaigning in the Olympics and went on to bag the bronze medal in the men’s middleweight division.
On the way to the bronze, Marcial beat Arman Darchinyan of Armenia and Younes Nemouchi of Algeria to advance in the silver medal round where he lost to Ukrainian Oleksandr Khyzhniak via split decision. Three judges favored Khyzhniak while two picked Marcial.
Nonetheless, Marcial added one of the four medals earned by the Philippines in the Tokyo Games alongside two silvers from fellow boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, and the historic gold of Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting.
In the 2019 SEA Games in Manila, Marcial won gold by knocking out Vietnam’s Nguyen Manh Cuong in the first round. /rcg
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