IF the entire country was so happy to see Eumir Felix Marcial win his professional debut, no one was happier that his fiancé, Princess Jenniel Carabadilla Galarpe.
“I’m so proud of him. There was only one thing that went in my mind—he deserves to win with all the sacrifices he made,” Galarpe said. “He really did well in the fight.”
The Tokyo Olympics-bound Marcial beat Andrew Whitfield, 40-36, on Thursday in a four-round fight in Los Angeles, California. It was his first fight in nine months.
Galarpe watched the fight on Marcial’s Youtube channel from the soon-to-be-married couple’s home in Imus, Cavite.
A former national boxer herself, Galarpe knows the sacrifices a national athlete makes, especially Marcial’s.
“There are a lot of sacrifices, especially because you spend so much time in training,” she said. “It’s really hard. You need to be fit every time.”
Like any other fiancé, Galarpe felt nervous about the fight.
“I got nervous of course. But I have faith in God. I know He will guide Eumir in all his fights,” she said.
Marcial and Galarpe have been a couple for eight years and six months. But they had to keep their relationship a secret because the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines prohibits boxers from getting into relationships.
“We hid it at first. I was a member of the national team for I think two years,” said Galarpe, saying Marcial was 17 and she was 16 when they fell in love.
Galarpe earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management at the Liceo de Cagayan University in her native Cagayan de Oro City. She now works as a VIP coordinator in one of the well-known hotels in the country.
They are now living together but Galarpe said they had to make other sacrifices beyond their duty as national athletes.
“It was never easy before. We experienced having nothing to spend, not even jeepney fare from where we live before in Pedro Gil [Manila] to Rizal Memorial [Sports Complex],” Galarpe narrated.
“I remember we tried to pawn his laptop so we walked from Vito Cruz to Pedro Gil. But when we got to the pawnshop, they told us that they were not accepting gadgets with broken seals,” she said. “It was so awful. But we were able to get through those hard times.”
But as the years went by and Marcial bloomed into a champion with financial incentives going his way from the medals he won in international competitions, the couple are more financially comfortable now.
“I am proud of him. I know our family is very proud of him, too,” Galarpe said. “I will always be proud of him if we start our own family soon and I love him very much.”
Galarpe said she is completing her travel documents for her to be able to join Marcial in the US.
Wedding bells?
“Maybe after the Olympics,” she said.
2 comments
Congrats Marcial for a winning debut pro boxing…
Congratulations & more fights to win